Real Progress
“The Line between good and evil runs not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either-but right through every human heart.”
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
We are a polarized group, Americans.
As much as I would love to be completely unbiased, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m polarized. Because of this, there are things that grip my emotions and lead me around.
I try to stay away from the news and news-like information…and yet, it still manages to find me. When it does, I feel a certain knot in my stomach. When I retrieve a fistful of political flyers from my mailbox or overhear a conversation about current issues, I feel a wave of discomfort move through my body.
I’d wager that this emotional response is largely a fear response…and fear is the ultimate polarizing emotion. It’s instinctive. It’s there for self-preservation. And it’s a tool used by the media to lead us around in different directions.
When we are in fear, not only are we polarized and divided, but we narrow our vision down to find a solution, any solution, to solve the discomfort within. Nowadays, so many entities are happy to provide “solutions” to our internal disarray, whether we are worried about politics or anti-perspirant.
Fear is isolating; it makes us feel separate from and opposed to each other. It creates opposition by assuredly choosing a stance and remaining incurious to all but one way of thinking.
Something I’ve realized about fear, is that it opposes happiness. And while external solutions might be offered to counter this fear (For example: buy this product or vote for this candidate), fear is wired very deeply into us. Can a product or a political party truly fix this instinctual reaction? Can happiness be found through a purchase or a vote? Most importantly, can an external solution fix and internal problem…ever?
This got me thinking…
If fear is polarizing and opposes happiness, perhaps happiness has something to do with finding common ground.
In order to find common ground, particularly in my own polarized state, I would have to get curious. And in order to do that, I would somehow have to calm my inner disarray. I would need to return to a baseline, a center, a state that isn’t polarized. The only way I can figure to do this is by finding compassion for both myself and others.
If I can find compassion for my own fears and the fears of others, maybe there is hope to find common ground.
At the end of the day, politicians and companies sell us on their solutions to our fearful discomfort. My polarization, my fear can be used to put them in power, and they rely on that. They benefit from us all being fearful and polarized.
But what if we weren’t? What if we decided that we wanted to truly be happy? That we wanted to reach out to our neighbors and see them through the lens of compassion?
Maybe we’d find ways to solve problems ourselves, by coming together in spite of our differences. Maybe we could see the many things that we actually do have in common, and how our fears are used to manipulate us and drive us apart. Maybe we could see that the only way to staunch the overwhelming emotions within is to actually go within and meet them. To find the place, the line in our own heart that keeps us divided from happiness, and from each other.
I’m convinced that this is the best way to get anything done, really.
Of course, we could also wait around and see what happens. We could wait for our elected officials or some big business to make good on vague promises.
