abt

Appendix A

The Second Council of Constantinople

Until the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 A.D.,¹ no specific condemnation of the doctrine of reincarnation had occurred within the church, even though it was well known that many different sects had been teaching forms of Christianity that included reincarnation. Although the Council of Nicaea had implicitly outlawed all unapproved teachings 200 years earlier, it had not specifically addressed reincarnation. Apparently, great numbers of Christians still subscribed to this belief in the sixth century, because the church felt it necessary at that time to single out reincarnation and condemn it explicitly. At the Second Council of Constantinople, the belief in reincarnation was bundled together with other ideas under the catchall phrase “preexistence of the soul,” and condemned as a crime punishable by death.

As had been the case in Nicaea, a lot of politics were involved. This council was summoned by the Emperor Justinian, not Pope Vigilius, the official head of the Christian church. In fact, the pope refused to attend the council because he felt Justinian was playing politics with the church, unjustly manipulating the council to arrive at a predetermined conclusion. At first, the pope refused to support the decisions of the council, but was eventually coerced into reversing his opinion.² The Western church, which had also refused to accept the council's decisions, then excommunicated Pope Vigilius for his reversal and split away from the church of Rome. The schism lasted for more than a hundred years.

As if that weren't disturbing enough, another facet to the story of the Second Council of Constantinople puts the validity of its condemnation of reincarnation into even greater doubt. There seems to be some question whether Origen was actually discussed at the council at all, or if the emperor deceptively added the condemnation of Origen into the official written record after the fact. The council was under the full control of Emperor Justinian, who was even more insistent than Constantine had been on enforcing religious conformity. He closed non-Christian schools, baptized nonbelievers by force, and all but wiped out some Christian “heretic” groups with fierce persecutions. The emperor had an anxious agenda involving Origen; before the council had even formally opened, Justinian ordered the bishops assembled there to address the dispute over Origen's teachings.

Inconsistencies in subsequent documents, however, leave historians uncertain if Origen was ever formally condemned at the council. Some learned writers believe he was, while an equal number deny this. In any event, it does not seem that Pope Vigilius’ reversal specifically included a condemnation of Origen, nor do the later popes Pelagius I (556–561), Pelagius II (570–590), or Gregory the Great (590–604) seem to have known of Origen's condemnation at this council. Nonetheless, even though this church council has been widely viewed as invalid by later historians, its recorded judgments were entered into the law books, effectively outlawing all discussion of reincarnation within the boundaries of the empire. From the point of view of public teaching, the doctrine of rebirth completely disappeared from European thought after 553 A.D.

It was just driven underground, however; it actually took another 1,000 years of bloodshed to eradicate the concept from Western religion.

Appendix B

The War between America's
Soul and Spirit

Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined…

—Jesus Christ

Numerous cultures that subscribed to the binary soul doctrine believed that the whole universe reflects the duality we observe in the human soul. Many nations around the world taught their children variations of the very same creation myth: that God created the universe by dividing Himself in two and then mating one half of His infinite Self with the other half. This universe we live in, they believed, was the magical offspring of that divine marriage, with every facet of that universe, including the human soul, still reflecting that original duality. This is why, they explained, we find ourselves in a reality where everything has a two-part, divided, or binary form. They believed this was why the root structure beneath trees looks just like the branch structure above them, and why the shape of virtually all living things is symmetrical, having equal but opposite right and left sides. They thought this was why we have two equal but opposite sexes, why electricity and magnetism have positive and negative poles, and why every action produces an equal but opposite reaction.

Recently, the world has witnessed this same dynamic in American politics. For some time now, the population of the United States has been divided into two equal but opposite political parties, which are, as it turns out, perfect reflections of the two halves of the human psyche.

The Democratic Party: Voice of the Human Soul

Just as the right hemisphere of the brain controls the left side of the body, the Democratic Party is also popularly referred to as “the Left” side of America's political body. And just as the right half of the brain is more dominant in women, the majority of women tend to vote Democratic. Like the right-brain unconscious, Democrats embrace holistic concepts like the “interconnection of all things” and the “brotherhood of man,” prioritizing these values over left-brain ideals such as independent individualism and personal responsibility. Unfortunately, this emphasis on the needs of the group over the rights of the individual often translates into higher taxes. Like the unconscious soul, the Left feels more confident when dealing with subjective internal matters (i.e., domestic affairs) than objective external affairs (foreign relations) and, also like the repressed unconscious, Democrats tend to identify with society's weaker and more downtrodden elements. Like the nurturing unconscious, the Left has assumed the feminine role of caregiver in society. Like the right half of the brain, the Democratic Party focuses its attention on what people have in common, and this focus on connections and relationships makes diplomacy one of its primary strengths. This focus on connections, however, also gives Democrats a tendency to be more inclusive and tolerant than exclusive and intolerant, which frequently translates into larger government.

Like the unconscious soul, Democrats tend to think in broad inclusive patterns that allow for flexibility, nuance, and uncertainty, and seem uncomfortable with the rigid black-and-white distinctions so dear to the left-brain conscious mind. Indeed, like the mystical unconscious, the Democratic Party seems remarkably comfortable with uncertainty. Despite the Republican Party's claim to be more religious, Democrats often seem to demonstrate greater faith in the face of uncertainty. In the recent presidential election, for example, the states most likely to suffer future terrorist attacks voted against the candidate running on a “War Against Terror” platform, while those states least likely to suffer a terrorist attack voted for him. Obviously, the Democratic populace of the East and West coasts is not nearly as worried about safety and certainty as the Republican populace of the rural states.

The Republican Party: Voice of the Human Spirit

The Republican Party emphasizes left-brain ideals like personal freedom and individualism, strength and self-reliance, and justice and order, while tending to distrust subjective right-brain values like emotion, nuance, and empathy for the downtrodden. Just as the left-brain mind controls the right side of the body, the Republican half of American politics is often simply called “the Right,” and just as the rational conscious mind is more dominant in men, the majority of men vote Republican. The conscious mind exercises its dominance over the weaker unconscious and, in much the same way, the Republican Party favors the interests of the wealthy and powerful over the less fortunate elements of society. Like the objective left-brain conscious mind, the Republican Party tends to be more adept with external matters (i.e., foreign affairs), but less skillful dealing with the messy subjectiveness of domestic culture. Just as the dispassionate conscious mind distrusts the subjective feelings of the unconscious, so too do Republicans often dismiss feelings of empathy as worthless, referring to them as “bleeding-heart liberalism.”

The left-brain conscious mind tends to notice details and differences more than patterns and connections. This tells us that it primarily views itself as a whole unto itself, rather than as a part of a larger whole. Always noticing the differences between itself and everything else, it feels separate from, and independent of, the world around it. The Republican Party is a group of people who seem to look at life with this same detached, objective perspective, elevating the rights and privileges of the individual over the needs of the group. Like the left half of the brain, Republicans tend to be more exclusive than inclusive, focusing more on the distinctions and differences between people than on the connections and relationships between them.

Like the conscious spirit, the Right prefers clearly defined distinctions, being uncomfortable with flexibility, subtlety, and uncertainty. Instead of exhibiting faith in unknown matters beyond its control, the Republican Party's sense of security, like the dominant conscious mind, seems to rest more on its own strength, control, and dominance. Republicans often prefer definitive left-brain demonstrations of strength and authority to gentler right-brain expressions of brotherhood, empathy, diplomacy, or faith.

Already Deeply Integrated?

Both parties are equally valid reflections of the highest ideals of the American people. It is not these ideals that are causing us trouble, but the working relationship between them. BSD cultures around the world taught that the only solution to humankind's problems was to integrate the two halves of our being so they would work in perfect harmony. In much the same way, it is growing clear to more and more Americans that the only way to prevent our country from ripping itself apart is to do the same with our two political parties.

The red and blue states on the map we saw during the 2004 presidential election suggested our country was geographically divided into distinct Republican and Democratic territories, but the map was deceptive. Within those states, their separate counties were haphazardly shuffled into Democratic and Republican checkerboard patterns, and within each county, the difference between Democratic and Republican votes was often no more than a few percent one way or the other. Our country, states, and counties are not nearly as divided as they have been made out to be.

Our Inner Partisans

Indeed, none of us is as purely partisan as we might believe. Just as each of us possesses both a conscious and an unconscious, it would not be wrong to say that we each also have both a Republican and a Democrat living inside us. And while we may lean one way or the other on election day, in our daily lives these two halves of our being share the stage within each of us.

Thanks to research by Dr. Fredric Schiffer, professor of psychiatry at Harvard University, it is now possible to introduce ourselves to these two inner partisans. Simply by covering one eye or the other, we can manually control which side of the brain is dominant at any given moment.¹ If we cover our right eye and look out through the left only, this provides extra stimulation to the right side of the brain, awakening our inner Democrat. Similarly, covering the left eye stimulates our inner Republican. If we take an hour or so, and honestly ask ourselves the same set of political questions twice, once with the left eye covered, and then repeating the same set again with the right covered, we often come up with strikingly different answers depending on which side of the brain is being stimulated at the time. Using two simple pairs of safety glasses, one with the left eyepiece taped over, the other with the right, Dr. Schiffer discovered that we each have these two distinct points of view within us all the time, and can access them independently of each other:

Sitting with patients who have rather dramatic changes in their outlook on life and the world within seconds of putting on taped safety glasses is an amazing experience. Seeing the patient's entire demeanor change…over a relatively short period of time—is a compelling experience.²

Once we realize that both these partisans live and breathe within each of us, it no longer makes sense to adore one political party and demonize the other, because to condemn either is to reject, deny, and ignore part of our own being. Unfortunately, as long as the majority of Americans keep trying to embrace one half of this social equation and destroy the other, our prospects of restoring the peace, stability, and prosperity we once knew seem all but impossible. Just like each half of the human psyche, each side of this social equation can, on its own, only offer a crippled and incomplete solution to America's challenges. American history teaches us that whenever either party has had control of both the presidency and the Congress, the result has been excessive spending and an unbalanced budget. But when the presidency and Congress are spread across both parties, they tend to arrive at a healthy balance, helping spending to remain under control and the nation to remain stable.

Any extreme imbalance between Republican and Democratic forces in our society, just like an imbalance between conscious spirit and unconscious soul, is likely to bring pain, disease, and death. The future of our society depends on bridging this gap, reintegrating the two halves of America's being. Just as the ancient Christians taught so long ago, we must indeed “make the two one.” This change cannot be legislated from the top down, however, but must transform society from the bottom up. The current divide between the Democratic and Republican Parties cannot be reconciled until we first resolve the spiritual battle raging in each of our hearts. Politics is really a spiritual issue and simply reflects the underlying spiritual realities of the populace. Since the political landscape is a reflection of the population's underlying spiritual condition, any attempt at changing the reflection instead of its source is doomed to fail. If America is divided, that division must be addressed at its root: the inner spiritual conflict raging in every human heart. As soon as we start being true to ourselves and embrace both these vital aspects of our inner being, the alienation between the Democratic and Republican parties will begin to diminish, and a productive and fruitful cultural exchange between them can resume.

Democrats and Republicans are the soul and spirit of American politics. We need both, and we need them working together in harmonious unison. If the system lost either of these voices, the country would disintegrate. If we no longer had anyone representing and defending the needs of the collective, the nation would collapse, but the same is also true of the rights of the individual. Both sides of the equation are equally essential. We need them just as much as we need both men and women, both night and day, both summer and winter. But we will only reconcile them with one another after we first reconcile our own souls and spirits.

For a nation to be whole, its people must be as well.

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