We have been holding on eight long years for the opportunity of this day. Be sure to vote twice during this election: once at the polling stations, and then again with your state of mind.
Recall the disappointment in 2000 when Al Gore lost to G.W. Bush? Can you imagine what it may have been like to have had Gore as President instead? Despite Gore's loss, look at the tremendous good Gore has done to bring a great deal of awareness to global warming over the past few years. On the contrary, Bush started his eight year run as the worst President in American history at a time when the world needed that the least.
In 2004, we had the opportunity to exit Bush out of office, yet Bush won again against John Kerry. The suspected voting suppression, manipulation, and fraud of 2000 (which many just could not quite believe could be true at that time) disuaded voters in the 2004 election, some complacency set in--and in any case, the election was stolen again. With Bush's regime, the world has been changed forever.
Now here we are in 2008 with an opportunity to exit Bush (and the policies and thematics that McCain would appear to carry forward), and more, to bring in Obama: perhaps the most progressive and liberal President any of us have seen in our life times so far. Personally, I see that Barack Obama is the best realistic candidate for American President since JFK, perhaps even Abraham Lincoln. We are blessed to have this opportunity.
Yesterday, while browsing through FaceBook.com, I was shocked to see someone in my own personal network posting a status note that made the assertion, "In this election do not vote." Complacency is one thing, yet I'm highly perplexed why anyone would make an assertion against voting. I made a reply comment, saying that this is like saying, "IN THIS MOMENT DO NOT BREATHE."
Aside from politics, candidates, and the issues--the right to vote, and the initiative to take personal action to vote--is the core and fundamental component of democracy. Each individual vote comprises a piece of the total collective body. Together we vote, together we forge our collective shape, and move forward in social evolution. While it is true that the political landscape has turned vile nearing the cusp of the 21st Century, and real crimes are being committed to deter and alter votes--we simply cannot afford to allow ourselves to become further deterred as individuals locked in complacency, depression, denial, or ungrounded idealism. If we lose our will to vote, we are losing the breath to keep our collective body alive.
The origin of the word "vote" comes from the Latin "vovere" which means "to vow". When we vote, we literally vow to participate in animating the collective spirit by our own action, and define the collective body by our individual perspective and choice.
It can be helpful and true to think about the mass population of America (and of the world) as having similar psychological and energetic constituents as an individual human being. Psychologist Carl Jung describes the fundamental psychological concept involved with the dynamics of the conscious and unconscious, which can be applied to either the individual or the collective psyche:
"The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves." (AION: 126)
The notion of the collective unconscious was introduced by Jung as a "reservoir of the experiences of our species." And Eckhart Tolle, in his book A New Earth, speaks about the "collective ego":
"A collective ego manifests the same characteristics as the personal ego, such as the need for conflict and enemies, the need for more, the need to be right against others who are wrong, and so on. Sooner or later, the collective will come into conflict with other collectives, because it unconsciously seeks conflict and it needs opposition to define its boundary and thus its identity. Its members will then experience the suffering that inevitably comes in the wake of any ego-motivated action. At that point, they may wake up and realize that their collective has a strong element of insanity."
Clearly, what we have been largely observing for the past eight years are various manifestations of the collective ego struggling against the evolutionary tide of the collective conscious as we move into higher human potentialities of a 21st Century global society. We have witnessed the collective ego emerging with it's shadowy type of power in the events around 911, the wars in the Middle East, the surmounting economic crisis, partisan politics, voting fraud, and more. The old structures do not want to give into the new change. The extremism of McCain's campaign very well characterizes this egoic manifestation by it's harsh partisan division, aggressive attack ads, impulsive recklessness, contradiction, deceit, slander, and, even in the last few weeks, the internal dissension among key members of the Republican party itself. This CNN video report of Peruvian Shamans (in majority favor of Obama) reflects a traditional awareness of the fundamental energy dynamics going on around the representatives of Obama and McCain.
The origin of the word "conspiracy" comes from Latin "con-" which means "together with", and "spirare" which means "to breathe". Although the common taken meaning of the word "conspiracy" is heavy with the extreme power dynamics of the collective ego in action, what it literally means is "to breath together". I propose that this is the true meaning of conspiracy, and that we have an opportunity to reinterpret and deepen our understanding of the greatest conspiracy that is occurring upon the cusp of the 21st century. After thousands of years of our collective's noble struggle to know ourselves within the massive backdrop of the cosmic unknown--we have come very far in our collective evolution, and are now becoming self-aware of ourselves, beginning to make a clearer distinction between our collective conscious and unconscious, our collective ego, and our collective superconscious. Yet the task is not to attempt to banish the collective ego by lashing out at it; that is simply more collective ego. As is recommended in the psychological process of individuation, the goal is to integrate and transform the ego with the authentic self. As a collective, we must recognize our collective shadow as ours, consciously and with wisdom utilize the resource of it's energy and power, and consistently aim with our highest consensus intentions to create a world that can harmoniously orchestrate all of our diversity, and continue along our pathway toward the stars.
So at this moment in history, among the shadow of the collective ego struggle--occurring right now as voter suppression and fraud--be certain to follow thru with your vote (vow) to breath into our collective body, participate in the new pronoia conspiracy to evolve everybody. If you think you may choose to not vote, consider that perhaps you are playing into subtler levels of the voter suppression dynamics that have been set forth upon the collective body. When you do vote, you are taking responsibility in activating your own individual conscious evolution, and participating in the conscious evoltion of the collective.
Psychologist Carl Jung says, "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." And spiritual pioneer Andrew Cohen reminds us that "You Are It".
No matter what happens with the results of this election, there is always the golden opportunity to choose to be present, to maintain equanimity, and to be rigorous with oneself as a conscious individual upon the collective path of evolution. This is the divine vote, your reverent vow to persist with the inherent quintessential nature as a conscious being. Above all, breathe ...
[This blog article is also posted at Michael Gaio's blog here ]
During the past few weeks, while I've engaged in deep research of new trends in internet marketing and social media for my own entrepreneurial initiatives, I've also been keeping track of much of the on-line media involved with the Obama campaign. Of all the great promotional videos that have emerged--my favorite has been this one pioneered by MC Yogi and a local California media team:
MC Yogi: Obama '08 - Vote for Hope
This high quality media production really captures the progressive edge, and may have really helped ground-in votes from the younger "hip" demographic. I've participated in helping this outstanding video go viral in it's organic distribution (nearly 250,000 views in just a few short weeks) by leveraging my own social media tool and skills across my networks.
After the video was initially released, I was told by friends that MC Yogi lives nearby, and that a few people who managed the media production are people I know and have worked with here in Marin County. I had a good feeling that I would likely have an opportunity to meet MC Yogi and congratulate him on such a successful production and contribution. That opportunity finally came last night when I attended the "Groove Garden" dance party in Fairfax--where MC Yogi did a live rendition and rap of the same "Vote for Hope" song for Obama. Directly after his performance, I approached MC Yogi, and shared with him my appreciation of the production, and let him know that it really inspired me. He is a great guy, and my further encouragement led him to also peform several more crowd-inspiring raps for Ganesha, Shiva, and other spiritual reverences.
It's great to realize that with just a few creative minds and some dedicated skill and time--nearly anyone can make significant contributions toward progressive change in this world.
See MC Yogi's website here: www.mcyogi.com
I'm inspired to see these Peruvian Shamans making some mojo for Obama:BBC - Peru's shamans send US election vibesCNN - Peruvian Shamans for ObamaNow THAT is voting on the level with conscious change!
I just spent a few hours at the Swing State Mega-Phone Bank HQ in San Rafael, California (just a few miles from my home in Fairfax) making calls to people in Ohio and Iowa--urging them to vote on Tuesday. The center was really buzzing with Obama campaign supporters.
One full-time volunteer told me how California has become so strong in its calling support to battle-ground states--that it has relieved the campaign HQ's in actual battle-ground states (such as Florida) enough to allow for full concentration of resources toward on-the-ground, direct campaigning in those states! According to what I was told, the San Rafael HQ is the third most significant Obama campaign calling center in the United States (following Los Angeles and San Francisco).
It's great to have the opportunity to participate so broadly and significantly in this campaign. I plan to make as many calls as I can can--either from my computer, or from the call center from now until election day.
Following the Obama campaign over the last few months has been an exciting and inspiring time. The campaign has been conducted brilliantly, and can be considered perhaps the most well executed and progressive Presidential campaign of all of time. Of all the many facets of the campaign, the utilization of the internet and social media has been extraordinary--and likely a fundamental factor in the overall success of the campaign. Here, I want to outline the components of this new media campaign strategy, explore the implications of this trend as it can follow into the Presidency, and speculate on how the advents of communication technology and socially-driven politics suggest the emergence of 21st century democracy, and evolution of social change.
