Many of us spend our time complaining about the things we can’t control: our boss, our colleagues, the neighbours, the economy, politics, and the world at large. If we’re even more unlucky we have reason to complain about our health, our personal finances, and our safety. The world seems sometimes to be a great moving machine that moves without purpose, reason, or any thought at all as to what we want.
WHAT HAPPENED TO CHOICE?
Take the case in point: America in 2017. America is even more divided today than at any other time in its most recent history. Instead of heated political arguments between two sides of congress we have a growing breakdown in trust in the public institutions that are the foundations of civil society: government, the media, and open public discourse.
With the rise of social media and the power of individuals to project their own truth into the public domain we are faced with a sea of voices that are all fighting for our attention and allegiance. We have even more choice than ever before, more possibilities to speak up and be heard – we live an age of exponential growth in personal choice. And yet for some reason we feel as if we have even less choice. We resist and complain about a world that seems to steam ahead while we’re left picking up the pieces.
The real truth however couldn’t be farther from the experience. The rise of Donald Trump in America is a mirror and deep reflection of the inner turmoil that has been created by the culture of extreme independence that has been created over the last 400 years of colonization and nation building in the United States.
THE WALL IN AMERICA
Those who are unfortunate enough to not be part of the 1% that truly own America are bullied into a state of daily survival. Starting from the first colonists that fled religious persecution the overwhelming ethos of American has been ‘me first’. And whether you are considered to be ‘middle class’, ‘poor’, incarcerated, or anything else, you are expected to do everything yourself. If it doesn’t work out, it’s your fault. Bad luck, wrong circumstances, not being strong enough to beat the other guy – none of these are excuses in America. The ‘free market’ is a euphemism for ‘survival of the strongest’. You don’t get extra marks for being kind, caring for the earth, or for making the world a better place.
Regardless of what you earn in America you have no legal right to take time off from work, you have no legal protection from losing your job, you are truly, and deeply alone. And thus it is no surprise to me that the deepest fears and inner reality of America today has been elected as president. We have moved from a president that represented the hopes of some Americans, to a president that represents the fears of other Americans.
It doesn’t matter if you are Republican, Democrat, independent, disillusioned, angry, or anything else. The system of government that has been created by the 300 million plus residents of America is nothing short of the result of the daily choices of 300 million plus people. Fear, isolation, survival: this is the cold emotional reality that lives deep in the psyche of the American nation, and this is the reality that has created Donald Trump. The wall that is to be built between Mexico and America has nothing to do with physical security, it has to do with emotional security. It is a symbol of the isolation that Americans feels deep inside as a result of the culture that has been created over the last 400 years.
And Donald isn’t just a reflection and a symbol: He too reflects his inner world through his tough talk and rough actions. As a child Donald received ‘tough love’ from his father, in his schools, and his environment. He was taught that ‘me first’ is the best way to survive, and thus he projects his emotional insecurity into the world around himself: America (Donald) first. Donald is our mirror, and his presidency and business empire is his.
OUR MIRROR
Each and every choice we make mirrors our inner reality. And the opposite is also true: the world mirrors us, and through the mirrors of our world we experience ourself. We can convince ourself that we don’t need anyone but ourselves, and that relying on ourselves is the only way to truly control our life. But by doing so we only do the opposite: we create a mirror in our world that reflects isolation and fear. We create a house of mirrors that reflects endlessly back the reality we fear the most: that we are alone.
If we are to move beyond these fears and create the world of love, abundance, sharing, caring, and freedom that we all deeply wish for we have to take the first step: see our world as ourself. By actively loving friends, family, lovers, colleagues, neighbours, fellow citizens, and our planet, we make the choice to reflect our love for ourself back on ourselves. It is often said: We define ourselves through our choices. And so it is with work, nation building, global citizenship, and life: Our outer world is a reflection of our inner reality.
We are united by the mirrors that we create, and those mirrors are all connected. One choice creates the next, one thought the next. Think about that before you react and project. Remember that your life and mine are not separate, they are one.