It’s been a wild election year, and will likely continue to be so. Lots of people are fearful, distraught, and angry. The country appears to be divided into tribes, the rift between them growing deeper daily. Some marriages are tottering over political differences, and violence has broken out in certain sectors.
I would like to take a very different approach to predicting who will win. The real election is not between two people, but between two irreconcilable states of consciousness. We are each choosing between fear and love, doubt and trust, illusions and truth. The ego tricks us into believing that our choices are material, while they are more fundamentally spiritual.
The idea that we elect leaders by casting votes in a booth is true only at the surface level our lives. We more accurately vote with our consciousness. The leaders who get into office reflect the predominant state of mind of the masses. The laws of metaphysics supersede the laws of the nation. In the past few decades we have seen two elections in which the winner lost the popular vote, but won the electoral college vote. On a spiritual level, the leaders perfectly represent the consciousness of the nation. Thomas Jefferson rightly noted, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
If you are fearful, angry, or upset, you will elect a President who operates from fear, anger and upset. You can tinker with human-made laws, but you cannot override the rock-solid Law of Attraction. If you are connected to Spirit and recognize that God is running the universe, you will elect a President with integrity. If enough people remain connected to Source energy, the balance will be tipped in favor of Source.
Every president is a mirror of the spiritual evolution or devolution of the nation. The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president demonstrated that our nation emerged from a long, dark mentality of racism. We evolved to that landmark moment, and we got the government we deserved by Right of Consciousness. Other presidents have represented more immature states of the country’s mind. When we elect a woman president in this election or any subsequent one, we will know that we are growing beyond sexism. You can always tell what you believe by what you are getting.
Your strongest vote to obtain leaders of good consciousness is to work on your own consciousness. Then you become a force for healing, and your vote goes far beyond that of one person. Mahatma Gandhi said, “The pure love of one person can offset the hatred of thousands.” Margaret Mead echoed, “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” If you are reading this, you are likely in that group that is a subset of the whole population, but whose influence extends far beyond that subset.
The only way to win the election is to achieve a state of mind that transcends the upset in which the masses are embroiled. George Bernard Shaw said, “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.” The real pig is a swine state of mind. If you stoop to the state of mind that motivates people to elect bad candidates, you are contributing to elect that candidate. Pig-minded candidates are elected by pig-minded thoughts. Refuse to participate in those thoughts, and you are voting for a candidate with character.
Regardless of who gets into office, you and I must occupy the office of right thinking. Only those who think in alignment with Spirit change the world for the better. A Course in Miracles tells us, “Seek not to change the world, but choose instead to change your mind about the world.”
I would therefore like to suggest some lessons from the Course as affirmations to guide us through this election season:
I could see peace instead of this.
I am not a victim of the world I see.
I am affected only by my thoughts.
Heaven is the decision I must make.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Whenever you affirm a true idea, you are voting in ways far more powerful than the button you press on election day. Those who remain at peace will win the election, and those who get upset will lose. No matter who gets into office, you and I are each in charge of our experience. We need to pay more attention to our mindset than our TV set. Let us vote on a daily basis by remaining in the light no matter where others choose to go.
