In last week’s feature, I set an intention. I would struggle through my disappointment and watch the debates as a spiritual practice. No matter what kind of show these men put on, I promised to you all that I would listen deeply and find ways to hope.
I failed. I experienced last week’s debate as a form of suffering, and I was not prepared to weather it. Thirty minutes in, I would have accepted a deal from the devil himself.
My store of hope and patience was overmatched by fear and agitation. The lies, the incivility, and the incompetence were so loud and gaudy that all I could see and hear was artifice. The circus of it all disconnected me from Source.
What to do now.
Well, first, I will cleanse myself in radical honesty. I’ll start by not only admitting that I am discouraged but also taking time to feel that emotion. It’s real, and it needs a moment.
It may sound counterintuitive, but setting aside time for lament can restore energy and boost productivity. Give lament boundaries — one hour, one day — and let ‘er rip.
After I have aired my lament, I will focus on replenishing my store of agency and hope. This will require that I adjust my vision to look near, not far.
Serendipitously, one day before the debate, I attended the monthly meeting of a local political club. I rode my bike there, was welcomed by the group, and learned about local measures to keep water and food clean, and stop the proliferation of plastics. All of that rooted me in my neighborhood — where I can see, hear, touch, and talk to people doing good work for democracy.
My final step suffuses all of my “recovery” efforts: to engage in practices that remind me there is a higher truth, power, and purpose at work. No matter how “in the muck” of it I feel, the reality is that an agency higher and less visible than my own is still moving.
The morning after the debate, I woke with this mantra: God is in control.
That helped. The ability to co-create with God gives me hope.
But so does my belief in what songwriter and activist Amy Ray calls “the spirit of the multitude.”
I thought again of the meeting I had attended. As a new member, I was asked to introduce myself. And so I found myself — an essentially spiritual person — addressing people who had invested their lives in a very political way of being: more competitive, black-and-white, and hard-nosed than colleagues in my line of work.
But, when I said that I thought spirituality and politics were just different languages for belief in a higher purpose, the room warmed. Heads nodded and people smiled.
Whether it’s the spirit of God or the spirit of the multitude that’s moving, we must seek out ways to feel it and be a part of it — now more than ever.
Here are some ideas on how to exercise agency and sow hope when the larger and more institutional mechanisms of democracy seem to be malfunctioning:
Democracy begins at home and in our own hearts. Train your focus there. This guide on Practicing Democracy at Home will help.
We spend so much time at work, and practices of equality and fairness are needed there. Whether you’re remote, hybrid, or in-office, here are some ways to Practice Democracy at Work.
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Political change begins at the grass roots, local level. Use this guide on Practicing Democracy in Your Neighborhood to affect small changes that will ripple out and up!