“When divisive and mean-spirited politics occupy so much of our public conversation, it's easy to become cynical and resigned. But we are capable of something better, we crave something better, and in his sparkling new book Stephen Dinan has given us a vision of how we might actually achieve something far better. He outlines a clear path toward healing the rifts that have torn our society asunder, appreciating our differences, and uniting in common cause to create a world worth passing on to our children.”
—John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and cofounder and
president of the Food Revolution Network
“Major evolutionary changes are looming on America's political horizon, and Stephen Dinan's book is the first I've seen to announce them so clearly.”
—Rich Tafel, director of the Project for the Future Right
and founder of Log Cabin Republicans
“The difference between a cockeyed optimist and a visionary is that one encourages us to sit back while the other inspires us to commit to a vision and take action. In Sacred America, Sacred World, Stephen Dinan offers us a highly compelling blueprint to engage in deep and totally achievable global transformation. This is a visionary work of the highest order.”
—James O'Dea, author of The Conscious Activist, former president of IONS,
former director of Amnesty International, Washington, D.C.
“Sacred America, Sacred World is a crash course on the intersection of politics, spirituality, and citizens. Like the three-legged stool, all are required for the United States to fulfill our potential. We, as citizens, are at a crossroads. Will we pick up the banner of our responsibility and thrive, or allow the degradation to continue? To choose wisely, start with reading this book.”
—Debilyn Molineaux, president, Coffee Party USA;
codirector, Bridge Alliance
“Sacred America, Sacred World provides an unprecedented vision of global possibilities, based in a frank, but balanced historical background of the greatness, as well as the unhealed wounds, of America. This national and global vision is rooted in the spiritual awareness that we are all members of one human family. This includes a fundamental need to fully understand and address the genocide of Indigenous Peoples, as well as honoring their unique and invaluable contributions to our collective future.”
—Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr., member of the Dakota and
Chickasaw Nation; global trustee, United Religions Initiative; and
chairman of the Four Worlds International Institute
“If, as the Bible says, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish,’ then this book is our survival manual. It provides exactly the vision we, the people, have been searching for.”
—Mark Gerzon, author of Leading Through Conflict and The Reunited States of America
“This is the first great manifesto of the evolutionary, trans-partisan political movement of our time. . . . In this appealingly personal but deeply knowledgeable book, Stephen Dinan shows us a better way. Like some of the great political philosophers of the 19th century, he shines a spotlight on the most promising currents of the day. . . . He shows us how we can better become the richly complex and self-aware beings that we truly are.”
—Mark Satin, author of New Age Politics and Radical Middle
“Bookstores are full of attempts to map the transition from the last century into the new one and away from a world full of silos, hard-edged ideologies, and personal agendas. Dinan's vision is unique. He is recognized as the prime ‘shift-master’ of our age and generation because he goes where most fear to tread and maps out new and fresh blends of tools and alloys that hold the promise of creating a brighter day for all. Get a copy of Sacred America, Sacred World. No! Buy 10 and delight your friends.”
—Don Edward Beck, PhD, Center for Human Emergence, Denton, Texas
“This is an important book and does a great job at connecting the big issues of our day, making it real and compelling for readers to act in ways that speak to the ‘better angels of our nature.’”
—Diane Randall, executive secretary of Friends Committee on National Legislation
“Dinan's book is a shot across the bow of political complacency. He is calling on Americans from across the political spectrum to aspire to something higher than the conventional ideas and institutions that now drive our politics. He points to the reality of order and freedom as energetic forces within individuals and the culture as well as the need to address the country's psychic shadow. It's a starting point for very important conversations that must take place if our constitutional republic is to not only survive but thrive.”
—Michael D. Ostrolenk, transpartisan social entrepreneur;
cofounder of the Liberty Coalition
“Sacred America, Sacred World provides a valuable voyager's guide to traversing the uncharted waters of planetary transformation. It points us in the direction of functional transpartisan politics, sustainable economics, and our individual responsibility as participants in nurturing civilization's evolution. The insights offered in this powerful book have the potential to change the world.”
—Bruce H. Lipton, PhD, bestselling author of The Biology of Belief
“Very few times in one's life does a book of monumental importance and significance come along. This book is one of those times. Sacred America, Sacred World will awaken the deep dream within you for the next level of the expression of America's soul in the world. Stephen both honors ideologies and also transcends them into a shared mission and destiny for America and humanity. This book is nothing less than the blueprint and the foundation for the next level of the American Dream.”
—Martin Rutte, bestselling author of Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work
“Reading Stephen Dinan's epic tome during a presidential election year full of debased debates is like opening a window to a room that's been hermetically sealed for decades. This book is disruptively sacred, delectably stimulating, and deeply spiritual. Read it and reap.”
—Chip Conley, bestselling author of Peak, entrepreneur who
built a $250M business, top-rated TED presenter
“This wise and moving book will help us all in the central task of our time. That of reinventing a way of being and doing that reflects our sacred nature and sacred purpose.”
—Andrew Harvey, author of over 30 books and founder
of Institute for Sacred Activism
“Stephen Dinan has performed a unique feat: he has created a holistic view of the future of the United States without demonizing anyone. This book is a powerful road map to a better world and a better country. It will be a guidebook for visionaries, activists, and change agents for years to come.”
—Tim Kelley, global consultant, author of True Purpose
“Responding to a broken political world of ends-justified tactics and narrow self-interests, Dinan provides a positive, holistic vision for our democracy.”
—Don Ness, former mayor, Duluth, Minnesota
“Stephen Dinan invites us to connect with the sacred mission to reinvent the world that is America's deep reason for being. He provides us with many transformative strategies to do that, but underneath each of them is a being infused with hope for the future and an indomitable belief in possibility. Read this book if you wish to be infused with Stephen's two precious gifts for navigating the 21st century on Planet Earth.”
—David Gershon, CEO of Empowerment Institute and author of
Social Change 2.0: A Blueprint for Reinventing the World
“Sacred America, Sacred World offers an inspiring vision of our spiritual roots and our future potential as a nation, while also addressing shadow elements that need healing. It provides fascinating insights on how to transcend rigid liberal/conservative ideologies, based on the author's own experience, and gives many useful ideas for how citizens can get engaged in transforming America.”
—Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson, coauthors of Spiritual Politics and
cofounders of The Center for Visionary Leadership
“Heartfelt and personal, yet also well-informed by leading-edge political thinking, I highly recommend this thoughtful and thoroughly readable book.”
—Steve McIntosh, author of Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution
“Rarely does a book come along that not only presents an illuminating picture of how our country and our world can evolve to work for everyone, but also offers profound understanding about how to get there. Sacred America, Sacred World is such a book and a remarkable achievement. As we approach America's 250th anniversary, Stephen's pragmatic vision can excite and guide us. A deep bow to his intelligence, his heart, and his commitment to our beloved country and the world.”
—John Steiner, co-founder, The Bridge Alliance, and
Margo King, Wisdom Beyond Borders
“The American Dream used to mean something. With the heartfelt inspiration and practical wisdom offered in Stephen's book, it can once again. Read this book if you are an advocate for not just rebuilding America but for truly making the world holy. Sacred America, Sacred World opens doorways and pathways into the world we have barely believed possible, and it is time now to make that dream real. In many ways, this powerful book is the answer to our prayers.”
—Marcia Wieder, CEO of The Meaning Institute and bestselling author of DREAM
“I am sitting here crying and cannot begin to express how touched I was by everything you wrote and how proud I am of the person you have become and your vision for our country and world. It is the best book I have ever read!!”
—Mom
Copyright © 2016
by Stephen Dinan
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.
Cover design by MettaGraphics
Cover photograph © MettaGraphics
Interior by Frame25 Productions
Typeset in Requiem Text
Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.
Charlottesville, VA 22906
Distributed by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
www.redwheelweiser.com
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ISBN: 978-1-57174-744-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dinan, Stephen, 1970- author.
Title: Sacred America, sacred world : fulfilling our mission in service to all / Stephen Dinan ; foreword by Marianne Williamson.
Description: Charlottesville, VA : Hampton Roads Publishing, 2016.
| Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016005259 | ISBN 9781571747440 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: United States--Social policy--2009- | United States--Economic policy--2009- | United States--Politics and government--2009- |
Democracy--United States. | Democracy--Forecasting. | BISAC: POLITICAL
SCIENCE / Public Policy / Cultural Policy. | POLITICAL SCIENCE /
Government / International. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Future Studies. Classification: LCC HN59.2 .D56 2016 | DDC 306.0973--dc23
LC record available at
Printed in the United States of America
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This book is dedicated to the ever-unfolding creativity of
America, as well as all those who have labored to help our
country shine with liberty and justice for all.
Foreword by Marianne Williamson
Introduction
Part One: Developing a Sacred Worldview
1. America 7.0
2. What Is a Sacred America?
3. The Next American Dream
4. E Pluribus Unum
Part Two: Evolving Our Consciousness
5. Radicals and Republicans
6. Political Cross-Training
7. From Revolutionaries to Evolutionaries
8. Patriotism and Progress
9. Reconnecting with Indigenous Roots
10. Healing the Legacy of Slavery
11. Rebalancing Feminine and Masculine
12. Occupy the 100 Percent
Part Three: Creating Innovative Solutions
13. Building Stronger Families
14. Educating Our Children
15. Creating a Culture of Peace
16. Beyond a War on Terror
17. Consecrating the Warrior
18. Stabilizing the Middle East
19. Ending Global Warming
20. Uplifting through Microfinance
21. The Sacred Corporation
22. Transforming Our Banking System
23. Solutions Councils
Part Four: Building an Evolutionary Movement
24. Sacred Citizenship
25. Turning the Wheels of Democracy
26. Toward a Strategic Political Movement
27. Transcending Political Polarities
28. A More Enlightened Left and Right
29. Training Future Political Leaders
30. The Shift Network
31. World Campaign 2020
32. The Call to Interdependence
33. Toward Global Governance
34. Fulfillment of America's Spiritual Mission
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Recommended Resources
The book in your hands is about vision. It is a conversation about a possible America, and by extension a possible world.
Visionary Werner Erhard once famously remarked that “you can live your life out of your circumstances, or you can live your life out of a vision.” America's circumstances have never been more complicated than they are today, with elements ranging from the most innovative and promising to the most corrupt and disheartening. What we need is not simply more complicated analysis along the same lines of thinking that produced our circumstances as they are now. What we need is a vision of what's possible, and Sacred America, Sacred World pours thought and feeling into the envisioning process.
Dinan posits that this new envisioning is not just the work of our leaders, but of all citizens. Only when we find a new conversation, a new overriding vision to guide us, will we find the will and the way to make it manifest.
In reading this book, you will consider, along with the author, not just how things are but how they could be. You will join him in questioning the limitations as well as recognizing the higher principles of both the right and left. You will realize the power of the warrior archetype yet see the shadow of unprincipled power. You will see the value of the marketplace as well as the importance of ethics and social responsibility within it. You will recognize where America has deviated from our higher principles, and the blessings that have emerged when we have held to them. You will understand the importance of taking responsibility for our mistakes, as well as the healing that results when we dedicate ourselves to solutions. The author is a worthy guide to assuming our critical role as the dreamers of a new America.
According to Dinan, we need a movement of “evolutionaries” to midwife a new chapter in American history. He argues our need for a new operating system in our politics, media, and other major institutions, while staying focused on the internal changes out of which such a new system would spring forth. “Sacred citizenship,” with its emphasis on the values of “oneness, respect, and love,” is the only vessel powerful enough to both dissolve the darkness that has infected our nation and give birth to a redeemed America. Each of us can and must play our part, in our personal lives as well as in collaboration with politicians, if we are to usher in the higher possibilities for life on earth. In reading this book, we are participating mentally in an evolutionary process out of which will flow the re-greening of our nation. This is not just a calling of our citizenship; it is a calling of our souls.
One of the strongest elements in Sacred America, Sacred World is its call to spiritual seekers to focus attention on our collective lives as both American and global citizens. Herein lies tremendous potential for social good, as those with the deepest dedication to the realization of the Divine begin to apply such realization to social and political spheres. From citizen lobbying for the Friends Committee on National Legislation to support of Wolf PAC in its work on overturning Citizens United, Dinan traces his own political involvement from mainly observing the news on television to actively participating in trying to change it. Reading this book helps clarify some of the most important problems that face us now, helping to dissolve the web of obfuscation that keeps so many of them in place. Yet it is a roadmap as well, as Dinan envisions, among other things, a collective World Campaign 2020 in which we harness our dreams and activism in a climactic burst of energy and change.
Of Dinan, some may say that he's a dreamer; but in the words of John Lennon, “he's not the only one.” Dinan is correct in pointing out the extraordinary power that lies latent in the hearts of so many in America and around the world who do want positive change, and who do want to feel they can play a part in making it happen. His helpfulness lies not only in celebrating this power but also in describing various ways it can be harnessed for practical results. Regardless of our politics, or whether we agree with every aspect of Dinan's proposals, the very fact he so boldly proclaims the possibilities for a revitalized America and the dream of a healed and peaceful world makes him one of the evolutionary leaders we need most right now. He reminds us that despite the darkness, light is always possible. And that itself brings forth the light.
Marianne Williamson
Los Angeles
Have you ever felt dismayed by the state of our country and our world?
I have, and I suspect you have as well.
That dismay arises because of a deeper dream that lives in your heart and the heart of almost every American. It's a dream that goes far beyond the material fulfillment and worldly success that are the apex of the classic American Dream.
It's a recognition, on a soul level, that we are each part of something larger: a sacred plan. A destiny. A calling that goes beyond left and right politics.
We have a great and noble mission to be part of creating something magnificent with our country, something that lights up the world.
Our hearts sense that we are here to help advance that cause and create liberty and justice for all. That phrase resounds through our history because it is a call for us to remember why we are really here.
We are not here simply to create a wonderful life for ourselves and our children (although that's a fine start). We are here to demonstrate what is possible as a society and to boldly forge a brighter future with opportunity and prosperity, peace and security, health and justice.
That's why we each feel dismay and heartache with the painful evidence on the news that we're not yet accomplishing what we are here to do. When we are failing to create something extraordinary with our nation, it hurts something deep within us. We can blame our politicians, as most of us do. We can blame our system for being rigged. We can blame our fellow citizens for being deluded.
But this doesn't change the fact that each and every one of us can do something about it.
In fact, we must take responsibility for being the change we want to see if we are to fulfill our mission. The truth is that we didn't choose to be born in this amazing country to entertain ourselves until we die. We came here to create something special.
Fulfilling the deeper mission of America will require a contribution from all of us. Even if we've sat on the sidelines of elections. Even if we've never gotten politically involved. Even if we feel hopeless to create change. None of those stances are worthy of the nobility in our souls. We are made of finer stuff.
This book is a manifesto to help you wake up, stand in your sacred power, and take wise and effective action in the service of us fulfilling our collective mission, while expressing your own personal mission along the way. It's a book about politics that is also deeply spiritual because that is the only way our politics are going to become something we can be proud of.
It is designed to help us align our country with a higher plan, to expand our vision for what is possible, to forge innovative solutions, and to embody our sacred values for real. It's about becoming evolutionaries who build the America of tomorrow rather than impatient revolutionaries who shout ideological slogans rehearsing the past.
To do this, we will have to go beyond partisan warfare to embrace those with other political views as our deepest allies. They are also part of the team that is here to help America shine. Yes, even the people you can't stand.
In short, we need to open to a vision of possibility for our country, one in which we successfully navigate the crises, polarizations, and political warfare of today to create a country that reflects our highest ideals and that truly serves the birth of a new, global era for humanity, one that is peaceful, sustainable, healthy, and prosperous.
If you choose to take this journey with me, you will be challenged to let go of your judgments and biases—the many ways that you protect yourself and close your heart.
You'll be invited to embrace the full spectrum of American political values and integrate the virtues that each political orientation represents. You'll be called to stand passionately for your views while opening to embrace what you might have seen as the “opposition.”
You'll also be invited to face America's shadow in the service of a deeper kind of patriotism that challenges us to rise to our potential. We'll look squarely at the face of genocide, slavery, and discrimination so that we can emerge more whole and committed to an America that is built on oneness, respect, and love.
After we've illuminated the path to reunite our American family, we'll explore real solutions in contentious areas, from strengthening our families to evolving our schools to stopping global warming to stabilizing the Middle East to reforming our banking. I'll show how we can forge great, bipartisan solutions more effectively than ever before.
You'll also be invited to think seriously and strategically about our long-term future and how we can create real breakthroughs with media, grassroots organizing, new forms of transpartisan political engagement, and, ultimately, forms of governance that put an end to our planet's long era of war.
As we undertake this journey, I want you to feel seen and respected for who you are and the beliefs you bring to the table, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, or Socialist. I will also invite you to stretch outside your comfort zone to become a more mature, thoughtful, and collaborative citizen.
Ultimately, this book is about building a movement of awake, conscious, and caring citizens who are powerfully committed to building a new era for America.
If you are willing to overturn some of your assumptions, open to a more unitive view, and roll up your sleeves to get to work, Sacred America, Sacred World will guide you, challenge you, and empower you to fulfill your highest role.
In this introduction, I am speaking to you directly because you have many things competing for your attention and time. I am asking you to let go of your other activities for a time and undertake a journey with me into the heart of our democracy and the heights of our shared mission.
My promise to you is that if you invest your time in reading this book, it will help you to play your unique role as a citizen of this great nation and a soul who is here to birth a better world. It will help you transform bitter partisanship and reunite our American family.
This book is thus an investment that I believe will pay dividends for you, your loved ones, and the future of our country.
Before we go further, I want to spend a bit of time sharing with you my personal journey, which began in political slumbers, passed through a phase of disillusionment, entered into the partisan fray, and ultimately arrived at a deeper level of understanding. My journey is a microcosm of the larger story of our country as we seek a higher possibility. In sharing my story, I invite you to reflect on the forces, values, and beliefs that have shaped yours. In this way, we can each begin to understand and then let go of our old identities and meet in a shared common ground as fellow Americans.
Growing up in Duluth, Minnesota, with my parents Bill and Connie and my brother Mike, I felt comfortably distant from American politics. Duluth is far from Washington, DC, literally and psychologically, as well as one of the chilliest places in the lower forty-eight states, averaging just eight degrees above zero for all of January. Nonetheless, it has a warm and welcoming community, well stocked with Scandinavians and other hardy peoples of the north. Neighbors were always eager to help, whether with chicken soup if you were sick or a snowplow if you were snowed in. We were blessed by endless acres of forests and the vast, shimmering beauty of Lake Superior, which made us all feel prosperous in natural wealth. We enjoyed a life of middle-class comfort, with top-rated public schools, more parks than we could visit, and plentiful programs for swimming, baseball, soccer, and more. People had aspirations and ambitions, but it was mostly for a settled and comfortable middle-class life.
My parents were actively involved in the community through their jobs—my father as Duluth's city attorney and my mom as a counselor for high school students and displaced homemakers—and through our Episcopal church, which reached out to the poor and marginalized. There were certainly many people in Duluth who were stuck in abusive marriages, alcoholic, or living in abject poverty. But the numbers of such people seemed small in comparison to the large and relatively content middle class. On the whole, Duluth was a modestly prosperous and healthy community—a positive example of American culture.
Local politics would periodically intrude when my father worried over his job. As the city attorney, he was a pawn in the chess match between the city council and the mayor. And because he was appointed by the mayor, he could be fired at any time. My father managed to survive decades at his post—a testament to his balanced temperament—but the crossfire exacted a toll, leaving a vague feeling in our family that politics was a life-negating force. That was the extent of my involvement with politics while growing up, aside from reading about national politics, which felt very far away.
I carried this arms-length relationship with politics into my undergraduate years at Stanford University, where I was more interested in neurobiology and psychology than politics. I read enough to be informed, though, and gradually questioned more seriously the integrity with which our country was run. But I did not truly engage the process of political change. Real change, in my view at that time, came from growth in human consciousness.
And so I devoted myself to the latest frontiers of psychology, philosophy, science, and healing. I devoured the work of pioneers of human psychology like Carl Jung, Stanislav Grof, and A. H. Almaas and integral philosophers like Sri Aurobindo, Michael Murphy, and Ken Wilber. I opened to a mystical understanding of Christianity and Sufism. I studied Hinduism and kabbalah, bodywork and aikido, meditation and shamanism—anything that promised to deliver greater wisdom. I did many ten-day silent meditation retreats and entered into a training for Holotropic Breathwork, which opened new vistas beyond the everyday mind.
During this time, Washington, DC, felt like gazing backward; it lacked the dynamism and power of the worlds I was discovering. So I largely stayed disengaged.
My real political awakening happened in 2003, when I finally allowed myself to feel heartrending dismay with the state of our country, which had grown militaristic, reactive, and fearful. The events of 9/11 could have opened the floodgates of America's heart; instead we gave in to the tyranny of revenge and war. After years of being disengaged, I finally woke up to my duty to get involved. I began to understand on a visceral level that our leaders were my representatives and my emissaries to the rest of the world.
Recognizing that my cool distance had been a form of silent support, I saw that I had to take more personal responsibility for America's policies and call forth something better from our people. Indeed, I began to see that my passion for positive change in psychology, health, spirituality, business, and other realms could not find its full and final expression until our political system passed laws and policies that supported a peaceful, sustainable, healthy, and prosperous world.
After beginning to write articles, volunteer for political campaigns, and speak truth about our political system, I kept returning to the evolutionary ideals and liberating spiritual practices I had ardently cultivated during the previous decade. I intuitively knew that they held a vital key for our political process to reflect our highest aspirations. Mahatma Gandhi had built his Indian liberation movement on disciplined spiritual practices that became satyagraha, a Hindu term Gandhi coined that literally means “truth force.” With a foundation of equanimity and inner strength, satyagrahis were able to apply nonviolence in powerful ways that eventually called both the British and Indians to higher ground. Martin Luther King Jr. carried the same torch of nonviolent, spiritually based engagement that lifts people on both sides of a divide, producing profound evolution while addressing injustice.
As I sought a marriage, within my own being, of spiritual understanding and political passion, something beautiful began to emerge for the first time: a patriotic love for our country that felt intimately connected to our collective higher purpose. It took the form of a faint but growing recognition that the greatness of America's soul has yet to find its full expression, either politically or spiritually. While many celebrate our past accomplishments as the mark of America's “exceptionalism,” our true greatness lies in a deeper kind of service to the world that lies in our future. I began to see that our higher mission is about America demonstrating real leadership in helping to create a world that works for all.
As I came to these realizations, my certainty grew that our “soul's code” as a country is built on timeless ideals and a spirit of service that can eventually lead us to fulfill its promise. The America I truly love is one in which the greed, self-interest, and corruption have been washed away to reveal a radiant gift for the world: a society designed as an enlightened template to empower the best in humanity.
Our founders embedded universal ideals into the vision for our country, ideals that, while they have never been perfectly enacted, did put us on the path to throw off the shackles of old social orders and eventually create liberty and justice for all, which is still a mighty and worthy goal.
In 2003, Dennis Kucinich was the first national political leader I found who carried an aspirational vision for our country that was also grounded in deep spiritual principles. He was just beginning his presidential campaign, and in him I found a kindred spirit. While his campaign never became competitive, it provided an opportunity to turn my growing passion into action, beginning with hosting a large fundraiser for him in San Rafael, California, that featured authors Ram Dass, Shakti Gawain, and Jack Kornfield, as well as music, poetry, and mobilizing. Almost two hundred people gathered that night for passionate political talks, singing, and funky dancing. It was a new kind of political happening, and it was electric!
A frenzy of activity followed this exhilarating first night, as I created a kind of Chautauqua tour of new-paradigm political events. I organized a speaker's bureau of pioneers, authors, and musicians to bring some on the road to places like Chico, Davis, Grass Valley, and Sonoma. In our grassroots tour of “Convergences” we would find wise souls in each town who were awakening from anti-political slumber to bring a higher possibility into our political discourse.
It was an initiation into the practicalities of campaigning and an eye-opening exposure to the deeper hunger in America's citizens to have a political process that elevates us and speaks to our highest vision rather than forcing us to focus just on beating an opponent. In the course of this journey, I was hooked on forging a new kind of politics. The most satisfying aspect was finding others who had similarly yearned to have their whole being—body, mind, and soul—fully welcomed into politics.
During that period of full-throttle engagement, several people encouraged me to run for office myself someday, which I had never previously considered. I took a serious look at the matter and eventually decided that seeking elected office would not be the best channel for my skills. My talents lie more in the direction of visionary strategy. By forging new organizations, media, and writings, I can help sculpt a vision of where we are going and offer a practical roadmap of strategies to get there. I can plant seeds of change wherever the soil is ready and influence political leaders on both sides of the aisle as well as everyday citizens.
Over the years, my political orientation has evolved still further. I've supported candidates in races for Congress, the Senate, and the presidency, but I've also shifted my focus to influencing our current elected officials rather than mainly backing candidates who share my views. I've learned, through working with groups such as the Friends Committee on National Legislation, that one of the most important responsibilities of citizenship is to support, influence, and empower our elected officials to make the best choices they can, day in and day out, rather than focus solely on the next round of elections.
My political work has also evolved beyond championing progressive candidates and policies to encouraging evolution of our political culture, both left and right. While my politics still lean strongly progressive, as I've matured, I increasingly see that fulfilling our country's mission will require the best skills, insights, and policies from across the political spectrum, including conservatives, Libertarians, and moderates. Learning to respect and honor the full political spectrum leads to a stronger end result than competing with a political “enemy.”
That recognition informs this entire book, which harvests the best of what I've learned in my journey of integrating spirit and politics, left and right positions, visionary future possibilities and the pragmatism of what it takes to create change. And from that vantage I now consider myself a transpartisan progressive, a term we'll explore later but that speaks to finding a higher ground in which all are honored for their views.
I have also learned that we need to transcend charismatic figures. Millions of us grew enamored with Barack Obama and the message of hope he carried powerfully in the campaign of 2008. On his victory night, I shed tears of joy that America had evolved to the level of electing a man of mixed race and stirring vision to the presidency, beginning to heal a racial schism that has long festered in our hearts. We attended the 2009 inauguration with millions of others and stood shivering on the National Mall, delighted to be part of this historic moment, waving our flags with patriotic pride.
But then, during his presidency, my elation became tempered with times of disillusionment: frustration with his appointments and policies, the fading notion of grassroots change, and partisan stalemates. In many ways, these disillusionments were necessary to dissipate the expectations many of us had for a political messiah figure. It's easier now to see the limitations of putting too much hope and expectation on anyone, including the president of the United States. It is actually a form of our political immaturity to expect someone to save and protect us rather than to stand in our own power and patiently help our system and people to evolve. Our political maturation means removing excess hope and excess resentment from our political figures, while offering our personal best in service to the collective challenges we face.
This holds true even if the elected leader does not share our political party. If history is our guide, we will spend about half of our lives under political leadership that does not come from our favored party. We can either spend those years resentful, frustrated, and scheming to take our power back—as much of America now does—or we can see these times as opportunities to work with people of different temperaments and values toward a shared goal of America becoming a shining light unto the world.
I now firmly believe that a single political party or ideology cannot deliver the kind of healthy, integrated, evolutionary growth that will lead America to fulfill its mission. Cultural evolution is a slow and often meandering process with many opportunities to regress. Both Democratic and Republican political positions hold value; indeed, as I've passed through the challenges of starting and successfully growing my own company, I have deepened my appreciation of free enterprise and how important it is not to restrain America's entrepreneurial engines. I've seen how the discipline, caution, and personal responsibility championed by Republicans build character and a stronger business. I have joked that I've had to integrate my “inner Republican” to become a better CEO, recognizing that some of what I once judged holds value for creating a healthy, profitable, and responsible business.
On a larger scale, I've grown to see how the evolution of our country to the next level of our potential requires the best of all of us—Republicans and Democrats, Libertarians and Greens. Our task is thus not just about getting the “right” party elected or even finding the “right” leader but about evolving our political process itself so that it generates greater wisdom and reflects the best in us. We need real, long-term solutions, and they are found in all value systems and in all parties. As we learn to appreciate alternative positions, we can help grow a healthier political culture where opponents become allies and adversaries become friends.
So the book you are holding represents the fruits of my political journey, one that started off as more radically left wing and has evolved to appreciate and even integrate positions that I once judged as of the old guard. While I still believe in progressive ideals and the vision of the future they hold, I now see that to evolve America still further, conservative and traditional values are often required to keep things working well. There's a positive evolutionary tension that progressive and conservative values create so that our movement forward is more measured, thoughtful, and grounded.
This complementarity is important to recognize and honor because it's clear that our country and our world are going through a historic shift in what we can think of as the “operating system” that runs our lives. Just as our computers are periodically upgraded with new and more sophisticated operating systems, so too are we evolving a new global consciousness and culture that will, in turn, transform every realm of human endeavor. We are evolving into one people on planet earth, and the walls between us are slowly but surely coming down in spite of the violence, tragedy, and discrimination that are still quite evident. And America must reflect that evolution as well by upgrading our own cultural codes in a balanced way.
We are only in the beginning phases of this shift and there are many ways for us to go astray, from being dragged into a World War III to becoming more isolationist to failing to meet the challenge of global warming. However, I believe that the love, courage, and stories of commitment I witness every day can carry us forward and ultimately triumph over the forces of regression, polarization, and fear.
The evolution to a truly sacred America is not an idealistic, ungrounded dream. It's an evolutionary imperative, forced by dozens of converging streams of crisis in the world, ranging from melting ice caps to emptying aquifers, from loose nukes to refugee crises, from drug wars to rogue terrorist states. The previous version of America has, in many ways, reached the limit of our capacity to produce lasting solutions to collective challenges. The world needs something more from us now, and we need something more noble from ourselves as well.
I will explore the next steps for us to become the kind of engaged, conscious, and committed citizens who can help America fulfill our country's mission and uplevel our democracy. Stepping into that next level of citizenship will also take some real reflection on where we are part of the problem. As a white American, I often want to recoil from the legacy of racial hatred that has roiled streets from Ferguson to Baltimore. To complete this book with integrity, I needed to study African American pioneers and take racial injustice seriously. To walk the talk of transpartisanship, I worked to release my judgments of conservatives by doing things I previously would have found distasteful, such as reading both of Sarah Palin's books during the 2008 election cycle and writing a public Huffington Post column about what I learned. I've made microloans to Islamic entrepreneurs, engaged in healing work with Indigenous peoples, and slept in an Occupy encampment. Writing this book over the last ten years has thus compelled me to expand the compass of my own heart as I call to my fellow Americans to do the same.
So that summarizes my journey that has led to the book that you hold in your hands. While I will weave some parts of my personal story and experiences into the rest of the book, Sacred America, Sacred World is ultimately a vision and strategic roadmap for the evolution of our country, offered with as much clarity and simplicity as I can muster. My intent is to honor the importance of each of us in forging our nation's future, whether we identify as progressive or conservative, atheistic or religious, Indigenous or European, white or black, male or female, working class or wealthy. I aim to infuse that inclusive spirit in each sentence of this book.
In the pages that follow, I will explore four main areas that will be essential for America to fulfill our higher mission. In Part One, Developing a Sacred Worldview, we will look at the emergence of a more holistic and reverential way of seeing the world, one that is coded into our founding ideals as well as emergent as we enter a global era. I liken this to a new operating system and show how we are upgrading both our consciousness and our culture. In Part Two, I'll address how we can become more whole as a people by healing the divides in our society, which are ultimately rooted in our consciousness. I end by recognizing that this is vital to “Occupy the 100 Percent” and enter into a new era without leaving anyone behind. In Part Three, Creating Innovative Solutions, I'll look at how a sacred and transpartisan perspective can lead to powerful and effective policies that lead to stronger families, improved schools, peaceful communities, and a healthier economy, in addition to a sustainable world. I will share many exciting examples and breakthroughs here. In Part Four, Building an Evolutionary Movement, I'll look at how to build an effective political movement for long-term change, going beyond left and right to address the deepest needs for evolving our country and world. I will share about exciting work under way to create unified campaigns and an infrastructure for the empowerment of conscious citizens. And I will culminate with an exploration of how we can evolve global democracy in a way that finally creates a world at peace.
While I cover a lot of ground, a book like this cannot be comprehensive or complete. My hope is that Sacred America, Sacred World will help awaken your dreams for our country and inspire you to take passionate action, for it is in the synergy of working together that something truly historic can be born.
Part One of this book is devoted to the deepest level of change in our country's worldview, which in turn drives our values, visions, and policies. The task of evolving a sacred worldview is at the core of evolving a healthier, happier, and more prosperous country that serves as a beacon of light for the world.
Psychologists have shown that individuals pass through many stages in their moral, emotional, and intellectual growth from birth to adulthood. Our country is no different because it largely reflects the growth in our citizens as a whole. Through our daily choices, words, actions, and votes, we sculpt a world in alignment with our vision and values. Thus, as our consciousness lifts, so does our country.
In this part, I explore the sacred worldview that I see emerging for our country. A sacred worldview is one in which all are honored and treated with dignity, regardless of ideology, party, philosophy, race, or identity. It is a global worldview that sees us as one human family.