For this year’s issue, as for last year’s, New Dawn asked a few people for a few hundred words on the year ahead. My crystal ball is pretty cloudy, because the guys upstairs taught me a long time ago that we can’t reliably predict the future because there isn’t any “the” future, but a wilderness of possible futures to choose among, any of which, when he choose it, seems the only real present, the others seeming only theoretical.
Recreating society
by Frank DeMarco
As I write this, it is nearly 50 years since John F. Kennedy was murdered. The years since then have served to underline the wisdom of his vision, which has become the path not taken: the rational pursuit of peace and prosperity as a cooperative international endeavor.
Is there something we as individuals do to move our societies back in that direction? More to the point, is there something we need to stop doing?
I think there is. I think that by concentrating on what is bad – and there’s plenty of it — we are inadvertently helping to make things worse.
I recently saw a quote from the Abraham material that reminded us that focusing upon the problems of others actually diminishes our ability to help them, because problems and solutions come from different vibrations. The way to help them is to concentrate on what is right in their lives, rather than adding our energy to what is negative.
What’s true for individuals is true for society. It is the same set of laws, after all. When we complain about the way society is, usually in the name of “how it should be,” we add energy to the negativity, and make things worse. (This very negative practice may come disguised as idealism. Think of liberals and conservatives, attacking pretty nearly any issue from their own perpetual crusading viewpoint, blaming the problem on the actions of others.)
So how do we criticize what’s wrong without adding our energy to it? I think the key is what Carl Jung pointed out long ago: Condemnation always isolates. Only understanding heals. You need to be clear on your priorities. Do you merely want to assess blame, or do you want to heal society? If the former, feel free to point fingers, but don’t delude yourself into thinking you are doing something constructive. If the latter, concentrate on rational analysis, without laying blame on others.
Rational analysis, rather than fear or hatred, was John F. Kennedy’s forte, after all.