Watching all the
politics going on for the upcoming election I am constantly brought to this
idea that Right and Left really could be called right and left brain. The left
brain is good for logic, numbers, rational thinking. The right brain is understood to be more emotional, artistic,
altruistic. I am surprised that more people do not see this parallel and say,
"Hey, wait a minute, something fishy is going on here". Why in
politics do we become so blind and unilateral? Should we not in politics and in
life aim to use our whole brain? Possibly, even add to that, in a balanced way?
Yoga talks about the middle way, in essence, balance. You know, the old Eastern
Yin and Yang.
When we see a
woman we can admire softness, curves, gentleness and nurturing qualities, but
how much more we admire when we can add strength of mind and body too? Nobody
aspires to be a withering violet. When we look at a man, we want him to be
strong, a leader and a thinker, but no one wants a brute. We would hope that he
would also be sensitive, compassionate and understanding. Yet we divide our
political parties into right and left. We pit ourselves against each other, dig
in our heals, and insist that my right is better than your right. It seems so
strange and glaring to me. I can't understand why everyone does not shout out,
"Wait, we are better than this, we are smarter than this!" Why not
have one political party of hopeful participants, filled with candidates that
approach issues in a balanced way, and the one who is most balanced and able
wins? Why do we inherently create divisiveness in a way that makes Peace and
Unity near impossible?
I have a friend
on Facebook. She is a vegan and a yogi. She often posts quotes about love and
peace, generally spiritual in nature. Once in a while though she posts about
her contempt for that with which she disagrees, and recently it has been
"he is a disgusting individual." I want to shake her shoulders and
say, don't you see you have fallen into the trap? The enemy has won. You have
become that at which you point your finger and call disgusting. Christ says: "You
hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye.” He, too, is made in God’s
image, a fallen human being. Christ says to those who persecute Him "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do." I want to say, “Don't you know?”
What good is it to honor nonviolence (Ahimsa,
a yogic principle of non-harming) to the animal kingdom if we continue to
attack our fellow human beings?
Christ also says
we are to forgive “until seventy times seven". Where is our mercy and how
large can we make it? We are supposed to be a democracy, yet there are certain
rules where even if a majority chooses a winner, that person may well not be
the winner. I have to say I don't understand all the rules, and it does not
appear in my own admitted ignorance to be democratic at all. I would like to
see a political revolution, where we the people say no more. No more pitting
against each other. We know better. We know the truth is broader than me-versus-you
– the truth includes us both.
The country is
more and more divided, both in politics and religion. Studies tell us that
evangelicals are
growing. But guess what? So are agnostics, atheists and a purely secular society.
The middle road is becoming a hollow abyss with a towering mountain on either
side. We continue to prop ourselves up on either side with our rightness, ready
to die rather than be wrong. What if we all died to our rightness and were born
into a broader view where a balanced brain could move towards something
beautiful...
Studies on music
show how beneficial it is for the very reason that it exercises the left and
right brain. Music and its very structure and rhythm are purely mathematical.
Harmony is math, and yet music has the ability to touch our souls at their
deepest levels. It can emote the full spectrum of our emotions in such a full
and satisfying way. Certainly if music can teach us how right and left brain
working together create the most effective result we can bring this concept
into our material world in government and society. Let us make those mountains
low and fill in the empty abyss with hope, a beautiful plain where all can
stand firm and supported by a steady strong ground. What a beautiful landscape
that would make.
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