This election is a seismic lesson in Unity Consciousness
A Psycho-Spiritual Perspective
Those of us who have done decades of work on the frontlines of excavating the ‘shadow’ side of our egos at a personal level, recognize that we all contain elements of the higher and lower states of consciousness. We live our lives on a spectrum that ranges from the ‘high’ states of joy and happiness, love and peacefulness, to the ‘low’ states of fear and grief, shame, anger and hate. Since the death of my mother in 1993, a seismic loss in my own life, I have been on a path of exploring my own consciousness and learning what it means to accept the shadow side of life, work with it and also understand its value, accept its presence, shine a light on it rather than hide from it. Shadow work is not for the faint of heart. It demands that you sit with uncomfortable feelings rather than push them away. It demands that you are willing to see your frailty and bear witness to the full span of human emotions that a majority of people would rather deny, block, or project outwards onto other things, other people, other…whatever. After all, wouldn’t we all rather live in the ‘light’ all the time? Pretend the shadow doesn’t exist?
But in my own experience, blocking, denying and projecting has never been a path that leads to healing and resolution. Rather, by being willing to fully accept my ‘low’ states with a strong internal and neutral witness, to feel the discomfort with compassion, attention and humility, eventually the feelings pass, a lesson is learned, new awareness dawns, another layer has been peeled off the onion. A sense of balance and unity comes forward. Night turns to day, winter moves into spring. My understanding of unity consciousness is that it is about transcendence and acceptance towards the essence of who we are beyond the dualities inherent in our human imprinting and in exploring the great mysterious journey of the soul. My teacher Leslie Temple-Thurston, defines unity consciousness as “the superconscious or divine state of awareness where all dualities have resolved into wholeness.”
Which brings me to America on the morning of November 9, 2016. I would have liked to have seen the election of the first woman President of the Unites States. I can’t vote in this country but I joined in the anticipation of joy and camaraderie with Pantsuit Nation. And I admit I was shocked at the result…. Until this morning, when I realized the amazing collective opportunity at hand: Can we accept all of who we are as a country? Can we sit with compassion and attention and be a neutral witness to all the ‘othering’ that is going on? This country voted in a balanced way and I flashed on the image of the yin/yang symbol this morning. Equal sides of light and dark. Am I the light? Or am I the dark? The winners will tell you I am the dark side of the polarity because I wanted Clinton to win. The losers will tell you I am the light side of the polarity because I wanted Clinton to win. In my humble opinion, this country is being given an opportunity to explore unity consciousness at a collective level. Was it not the same lesson being offered when Al Gore won the popular vote yet George Bush became President? Another layer of the onion is being peeled.
America, you are on an adventure. And the world is watching. Donald and Bernie both appealed to the people who know that there is a great inequality in the way our economic, political and institutional systems operate. A new revolution in consciousness is being unearthed and we are just at the start of it. There is something collective going on worldwide that we need to pay attention to. We cannot know yet how it will unfold…. It looks bad from the vantage point of the Clinton supporters who fear for their future, their healthcare, their children, the earth….. I for one will sit and hold a neutral witness for whatever is unfolding before us… and do my own shadow work around grief, anger, othering, projecting, etc. There may be something important for us all, as a species, to “get.” Earth is giving us lessons about how our economic and industrial growth machines affect the planet. This is another lesson on how our economic inequalities (worldwide) have fueled a rising up of rage. May we all learn the lessons well no matter how messy it looks right now. What a Divine Lela (play) we have here. Blessings to everyone….
