Just as the Sun's heat and light and the rain cause growth of plants, so too does human temporal (political) power cause change in the human world - and the human world, because of our use of tools, can and does cause massive changes in both the human and the physical world.
Now, I recently came across a meditation on raising one's frequency where one comment was made "don't worry about who wins what election".
This is a common enough attitude amongst the spiritually inclined - I used to have it myself. Partly it is a cynical contempt for power struggles, partly a wrong view that "the material" contaminates the spiritual, partly other issues - including ignorance.
There is a story in the Buddhist world, relayed in Pema Chödrön's book "Meditation: How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind", of a monk who spent years meditating in the mountains, but when he came down to the world, on a market day, a young child stood on his foot and the monk raised his walking stick in anger to strike the child, realised hat he had done, and then turned around to walk back into the mountains and meditate for a few more years.
To paraphrase, the monk realised his "spirituality" was not genuine or strong, as it did not last through a minor human interaction in the mundane world.
One can indeed raise one's vibrations by withdrawing from the world - which, in effect, was what that meditation was advocating for by saying "don't concern yourself with the results of elections" (albeit only for the duration of that meditation - there was no suggestion of doing so permanently). However, many people, out of exhaustion, being overwhelmed, or other problems, desire to withdraw from the struggles of the world - and, much as people in developed nations often have annual holidays, or people in many places don't have to work on all days of the week, there is a valid need for periods of rest. In fact, after the last two decades, which have seen major changes of lifestyle, a series of major illnesses & deaths amongst friends & family, helping to do a little to raise two sets of step kids & two long term relationships (one still continuing 😊 ), major changes in my work that have left me exhausted (partly because of decisions made by politicians about my profession), and the effects of ageing (including health problems) on myself, I'm also ready for a time of withdrawal from the world (although I can't, because of family duties, so I have cut back on some things I love - such as the weekly news posts . . . to joke about this for a moment, I'm tempted to look for a "hermit in the garden" role that the rich in Europe used to have as part of their display of opulence a few centuries ago).
However, withdrawing permanently or completely from, or being cynical about, politics in the human world is so selfish it is unspiritual.
It is also based on wrong thinking about politics.
Let's consider some examples of the effects of politics:
- in the 1800s, laissez-faire politics allowed the use of child labour . . . and campaigns for reform led to political laws that banned that appalling practice in many nations;
- politics that placed "economic growth" (profits for the rich) ahead of all else allowed environmental devastation including our current, existential climate crisis . . . and campaigns have led to political decisions that successfully addressed the ozone hole, and are finally resulting in some (belated and insufficient) changes to address the crisis.
Make no mistake: the changes that are being implemented are a direct challenge to millennia of politics based on promoting profits for a few against the wellbeing of all, and thus this is no small achievement - and it has been hindered, in part, because of some of appalling political decisions made in the past, such as the effects of colonialism on India - and poverty is one of the major afflictions humans face, in my opinion, along with: the aforementioned climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic (and the head-in-the-sand denialism ["death won't be real if I deny it"] and resentment at reduction of personal convenience behind the conspiracy fantasies and violence and vicious threats of the anti-vaxxers - all of which is human temporal [interpersonal] politics at its worst), and bigotry in all its many guises; - inept politics (see here) allowed the rise of hitler and all that that led to (see here) . . . but politics after all that led to the flawed United Nations, which does a power of good in enabling coordinated international communication and travel and weather forecasting, and aid to developing nations (see here and here, and the updated version here);
- the election of POTUS45 was an act that gave an evil psychopath a staggering amount of power, and caused massive damage to the entire world - so elections and who gets voted in clearly do matter on at least some occasions.
As the saying based on Edmund Burke's writings puts it:
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people]
to do nothing"; - I was in a discussion recently with a few people about a politician who disgraced himself by driving while drunk . . . but it was politics, partly shaped by the campaigns of people, that had led to laws banning driving while drunk and implemented a legal enforcement mechanism;
and - to end on another personal note, office politics has plagued my working life, and the working lives of many people.
Politics is about temporal power, and HOW it is used - whether that be for good or bad.
Effective politics led to changes in the working environment over the last four decades or so that have led to major improvements in safety - including, now, acknowledging and addressing mental health.
I was involved in lobbying a quarter century ago to improve anti-discrimination laws in my home state.
And it was religiously motivated people who were responsible for laws banning slavery in the UK and elsewhere.
The "trick" is not to withdraw from something that is messy and flawed like politics, but to engage in it ethically, looking after oneself as one does so, and to transform it into something better.
We're here in this physical world for a range of reasons, and one set of those reasons is that it is a TEST to see what we do with the opportunities to help and to improve the physical world that we have - which includes a further set of tests around how we raise other people's vibes and understanding, and get them to take a broader spiritual view on the messiness and opportunity of human interactions.
By all means, withdraw when you need to, for your health & wellbeing (as is the case for me now and for some years to come), or for the period of a meditation, or to look after yourself generally (you can't raise others' vibes if your vibes are "in the basement"), but don't be selfish and unspiritual by failing to use your spirituality for the benefit of others.
Engage, and help to make politics something to be proud of, rather than cynical about.
