Elections: Winning and Losing*

I’m writing this post a few days after the recent political election

in the United States.

I am inviting you to a perspective that often gets forgotten,

sometimes even lost, in the midst of

and in the months following such elections—

whether they happen in your country or elsewhere.

Chances are that, if your preferred candidate(s) won,

you’re both relieved and happy, perhaps ecstatic.

Chances are that, if your preferred candidate(s) lost,

you’re not only unhappy; you’re deeply sad (perhaps depressed),

angry (perhaps hateful) and/or fearful (perhaps terrified).

So often, we allow external circumstances to influence,

even to determine, our personal emotions and state of mind.

This habit is often because we assign our own moral values

to these external circumstances—

seeing “our” desired outcome as right, good and important,

while viewing “their” desired outcome as wrong or even tragic.

Indeed, our chosen political party often reinforces our view

by telling us how catastrophic the other side’s approach is.

So often, we feel ourselves invited into, even trapped in,

this morality-driven, right vs. wrong-grounded,

duality-filled tug-of-war that seems to require us

to choose sides between two extremes,

then to wish and fight for our side to win.

I’ve often contemplated this thought: Once we embrace, own

and ‘believe in’ any one side of a duality-oriented issue,

we’ve immediately lost a larger war—

even if we temporarily won one of its battles (elections)

and are soothed by momentarily feeling victorious.

More importantly, we’ve also lost our inner peace,

our expanded consciousness and our objectivity.

And yet most of us keep choosing sides,

reactivating our hope that we will win the next battle,

counting anew on our moral convictions to ‘win the day.’

Could it be that our loyalty to our beliefs or our cause

inadvertently puts us ‘under a spell’—

the spell of duality’s morality-driven fears and desires?

What do I mean?

For background, let’s look briefly at three perspectives:

those of ‘reality,’ ‘truth’ and ‘quantum’:

1. What is ‘Reality’?

You and I have often heard two important sayings.

The first is that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Well, it’s not only beauty that is determined by the beholder.

Indeed, ‘everything’ is in the eye of the beholder.

What we see, how we see and what we think about it

are determined not nearly so much from what’s “out there’

as they are from who’s going on “within you and me.”

The second saying is: “There is no external reality.”

Current neuro-psychological studies have found that

the so called ‘reality’ that we think we see ‘out there’

is created in our vision not by what we’re actually looking at,

but much more by our subconscious preconceptions of it.

The simple conclusion of both of these phenomena is that

what we really see—and indeed whether we see it

as beautiful or ugly, right or wrong, ideal or terrible—

is not primarily based on logic, reason,

external facts, scientific findings or external realities.

Rather, it’s based on our internal needs, our heart’s desires, our personal values, our mental beliefs and our emotional feelings.

The bigger truth: ‘Reality’ is a construct of our consciousness.

2. What is ‘Truth’?

The same is true about our concept(s) of truth.

Truth, or what we believe about truth, is significantly more

about what we think it is rather than about what it actually is.

Indeed, just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder,

truth—or what we see as true—is in the mind of the believer.

Let’s face it, most of us believe that ‘our’ beliefs and values

are the correct ones, the more enlightened ones …

… and, in contrast, the beliefs of others are simply wrong.

In our devotion to our version of truth, we easily forget

that the real truth is always many times bigger or higher

than what we have constructed in our minds.

I sometimes wonder: Using duality as our backdrop,

could it be that truth is like a two-sided coin—

one side being ‘my’ version of truth

and the other side being the seeming opposite version?

In this view, both sides are perhaps equally right …

… and maybe even equally wrong.

Difficult as it may be for us, there is a powerful path

out of this ‘me-versus-them’ cycle of opposites.

Consider this: How about stepping beyond my one-sided belief

long enough to embrace both sides of the coin?

How about opening my heart to sit in,

and even be at peace with, the opposite view—

thereby allowing my heart equal standing with my mind

and thereby initiating my mind into its more expansive nature?

This approach may seem disloyal or even traitorous at first,

but it has a truly redeeming value for you and me:

It can break the spell of our loyalty and addiction

to duality’s demand that we choose sides,

that we be ‘right,’ that we win over the other side.

Sure, it’s tempting to want our side, the ‘right’ side,

to win the battle (election) and save the world

from the misguided evils of the other side.

But, even if that personally desired outcome occurs,

we’ve still lost the larger war: We’re still stuck

in the duality-driven cycle of me-vs.-them,

of feeling separate and in opposition,

of bypassing and abandoning our heart’s wisdom,

of missing an opportunity to find an even bigger truth,

of inadvertently condemning ourselves

to a life of internal suffering and ‘un-peace.’

3. What is the Quantum perspective?

Suppose you’re one of those fortunate people

who have experienced an internal calling

to embrace your quantum nature,

to bond with your quantum consciousness,

to live on our earth as a quantum human!

What might you hear your ‘quantum self’ telling you

about this issue?

As I sense it, your internal quantum source

would quietly remind you of two pertinent quantum truths.

The first could sound something like this:

“Remember, this human creation is all about every possibility

having equal opportunity to be expressed—

not just the ones you prefer or believe to be better.

Every possible anything and/or everything has an equal chance

of emerging from the realm of ‘being possible’ to the realm of ‘looking real.’

So, I invite you to open to and accept whatever you don’t like.”

Then, you might hear this as the quantum source’s second input:

“Remember, none of this is actually or really happening.

Every aspect of it, including you and your human life,

is a scenario that I’m imagining, dreaming, contemplating.

Of course, you experience this duality and its drama as real,

just as everyone in this human dream does.

“Nonetheless, be assured that, no matter how real,

terrifying or drama-filled these scenarios appear to be,

they are “just a dream”—my dream, your dream, the human dream.

So, do you really want to be taking it so seriously?”

I wonder if our inner quantum nature,

in reminding us of these two quantum truths,

is doing so with a singular, strong intention:

to wake us up!

To awaken us from the ‘spell’ or ‘dream’ of duality

and its seeming moral compulsions to choose sides.

At three levels, of course, we’re already awake:

· Our spiritual self: where we look at everything through the lens of unity, not duality.

· Our heartful self: where we see it through the lens of love and respect,

not duality.

· Our essential self: where we see it as “It just is!” or “It is what it is!”

not duality.

Indeed, the only part of you and me that is left to awaken

from this convincing spell of duality is our mental self—

yes, that adorable mind of ours, where we believe in the importance, seriousness and necessity of embracing duality’s enticing invitation.

What might it take for us to awaken our well-meaning mental self

from the seeming grip of duality’s calling?

What power could be so mighty and commanding

that it could lift us to a more wisdom-filled seat ‘above the forest’

of duality’s drama?

I deeply believe that there’s only one power that is that mighty:

the indisputable power of your and my quantum source,

the unparalleled power of our quantum self!

In fact, it’s our quantum self that is actually having and,

believe it or not, truly enjoying this human dream.

It’s the quantum ‘us’ that originally inserted duality into our dream,

in order to give us yet another way of looking at everything—

in addition to that of our essence’s is-ness,

our spirit’s oneness and our heart’s loving-ness.

Could it be that the original design of our dream was for us

to play in and be loyal to duality’s moral values for a while,

then to awaken ourselves to live above and beyond them?

If so, events like elections can provide us a unique opportunity

to re-visit this design, find its quantum truth within ourselves,

and open ourselves to that quantum seat above the forest of it all.

I’m inviting you to do just that—

to re-visit and reflect upon your approach to this recent election,

then ask yourself:

Am I being invited to wake up?

Am I being called to become a master of duality

and its moral enticements rather than being its servant?

Is it ‘my time’ to reach within myself,

find my quantum truth, and become more of my quantum self?

Is this moment my opportunity to release any attachment to my moral values,

listen more to my heart, soul and essence

and say ‘Yes!’ to my quantum nature?

If any of these questions evoke a ‘yes’ response within you,

I invite you to perhaps consider the following approach:

Imaginatively wrap up any attachments you may have

to your duality/morality beliefs,

release and give them as a gift to your quantum self,

express your willingness to live without them

and open yourself to whatever way your quantum power

chooses to re-create you in its own image.

Quantum Source ... Quantum World ... Quantum Void ... Quantum You!