Can our democracy work?

Hi John.

Can any country be free if the people remain in bondage to their thinking – or can I understand democracy if I am not democratic, and can I ever be democratic if I stay in bondage to my thinking?

Kind regards, Eamonn.

Eamonn, thank you for inviting us to reflect on such a provocative question.

Your insightful, double-bind question demands that we consider the concept of the common good, which, in theory, if not in practice, democracy supports.

That you have the answer, is evident by your question.

For brevity, a dot-point response follows.

Let us start at the source of a democracy; human ‘thinking’, and its creator, ‘Thought.’

Our personalised thinking (with a small ‘t’) is the form impersonal Thought (with a capital ‘T’) takes. That statement will become more apparent as you read on.
Impersonal Thought (capital ‘T’) is a name for the mysterious formless energy enabling us to think (small ‘t’) and feel and act as human beings.

Humans use Thought and their thinking to create all things that exist beyond the natural world

Our brain is the organ that accommodates and organises the progression ‘Thought – thinking – feelings – actions’, a process which makes us the complex, creative, kind and sometimes cruel, asinine creatures we are.
This ‘Thought – thinking – feeling – actions’ process is all-consuming for us – it’s the reality in which we live.
This cause-and-effect process – Thought and thinking etc. – determines all human-related outcomes: the so-called good, bad, and indifferent.

The inherent challenge in being human is being aware that we are creating our reality through ‘Thought’ via our ‘thinking’, moment to moment.

In each moment, what we are thinking is our reality – the only reality we can know until we see another reality, then another, then another, on and on, unceasing until we die.
We are immersed in and, to varying degrees, lost in the thicket of our thinking – specifically, our accumulation of conditioned beliefs, opinions, judgements and knowledge.
Many of us seek a way forward – out of the thicket – (our conditioned mind) – to see beyond the limits of our existing personal reality to an expanded reality, a healthier life, and better relationships.
He or she, the thinker, creates their reality.
One person’s reality can be the opposite of how others might experience the very same circumstances.
It follows that we each live in an entirely separate reality – hard to imagine, but entirely provable (via a different essay).
That we each live in a Thought – thinking – feeling – actions reality, separate to one another, has long been recognised by many traditions.

**Waking up and seeing that we are the thinker – i.e. our personal-reality creator – is seeing Possibility 101**

A moment of individual awakening occurs in seeing that we think – a moment some call seeing Possibility.
In seeing Possibility, we come to understand, in that moment of awakening, the extent of our restrictive, impossibility thinking, prior to that moment.
Some see in that instant of personal discovery, the potential for seeing further and more frequently into the realm of Possibility, and the potential it offers them, and, more broadly, what it offers humanity.

Waking up and becoming a democratic human being requires our intention to be one

Our immediate recognition of having transcended our conditioned thinking (existing reality) is uncommon.
More common is that we wake-up in stages, insight by insight.
Until a certain moment of awakening, we will continue to experience our thinking – whatever it is – as ‘the true reality’ rather than as ‘our personal, limited and limiting reality’ – ‘our undemocratic reality’ – ‘my life is all about me and mine reality’ – ‘to hell with the common good reality’ or the old one, ‘father knows best reality’.
As we awaken, we recognise what we are thinking in each moment. The contribution of this recognition to us and our relationships evolves. It represents our degree of awareness of the experience we are creating in each moving moment. Some call this our ‘level of consciousness’.
Although self-evident from the previous point, it bears repeating in a slightly different way. To the degree that we understand that we are creating our reality via our thinking in each moment – we are conscious of the fact we are creating – a good, bad, OK, or indifferent reality. A reality that is self-serving or one, at least, intended to be in service to the common good.

So, to democracy

The concept of democracy does include the idea that we are free of mind to choose our politicians, and thus have some influence over what flows from the government those politicians form.
However, following on from your question, Eamonn, we must consider that if we choose politicians based on our personal, unexamined conditioned mind, our choices are not free. Instead, they are, you might say, robotic – the predictable ‘choice’, springing from the blind, unaware realm of a person’s ‘impossibility’ thinking.
It follows that the quality of our democracy will always reflect the sum of our collective understanding of the Thought-created nature of the human experience – either seeing life through eyes of impossibility or seeing through eyes of Possibility.

In light of the foregoing, what is the future for the democratic system?

Regardless of the current, collective level of understanding, we each hold the potential to see Possibility and become more conscious – more aware of the common good.
If enough of us were to see into the realm of Possibility we would, therefore, be capable of:
- creating a system of government that works for the common good
- selecting candidates that work for the common good
- casting a competent vote in support of the common good, and thus
- creating a society that is in service to the common good.

Can a real democracy arise and be sustained without us being influenced by Possibility?

Do the above human capabilities come from seeing into the realm of Possibility?
- Our state of mind – one influenced by either seeing Possibility or seeing impossibility – determines the quality of our contribution to the common good.
- In experiencing the kindness, understanding, wisdom and common sense inherent in the realm of Possibility – we are fit to create a democratic government.
- If our conditioned mind (the realm of impossibility) is:
  - dominated by dogmatic beliefs, opinions, and judgments
  - and harbours ill will toward our fellow citizens,
  - any of our fellow citizens,
  - especially those we cannot stand,
  - we are, by this definition, unfit to create a democratic government.

And, based on the foregoing, please consider that each of us:

Does the best we can see or see to do at each moment when deciding who to vote for (or maybe to cast an invalid vote).
Is limited by what we see (within the realm of impossibility) or have seen (within The Realm of Possibility).
Is innocent when casting a vote that works against the common good.
Based on what precedes, we cast our vote (or not), and it will work for or against the common good – or maybe plain dumb luck plays a part, and we happen to pick a fit-for-purpose candidate.

Some questions we might ask ourselves about our fitness for a democratic life:

Have I become stuck in my past ‘impossibility’ conditioning – my lifelong accumulation of dogmas, certainties, fears, my ingrained beliefs around the ‘left’ or the ‘right’ or whatever ‘hybrid’ of politics I believe in with cast-iron certitude?
Am I sufficiently free of my conditioned mind to see anew into the realm of Possibility and, with kindness, understanding, wisdom and common sense, look to support the common good as best as I can see to do?
Am I awake enough to see into the heart of the matter, i.e. my state of mind, the determinant of the quality of my contribution to a democratic society?

And the big question. The one that goes to the heart of the issue you have raised:

Is the creation of a democratic society (one in service to the common good), dependent on the collective awareness of the population to elect leaders who have experienced Possibility?

If this essay is correct in its assertions, then yes!

Finally, Eamonn, the bottom line is this:

Democracy would flourish if our leaders operated from a mind influenced by original Thought – The Realm of Possibility.

Likewise, we would, as a society, be inspired and influenced by the kindness, understanding, wisdom and common sense inherent in each of us – The Realm of Possibility.

Warmly … John