Tikkun

The Hebrew word, tikkun, means to to heal or mend. It is also a Jewish magazine about politics and society... from a liberal/left perspective. So the editor of the magazine, Rabbi Lerner, spoke at NU today, and I was quite inspired by his talk. He started by describing two different ways to view the world

1. Cyncical realist/ view of fear and domination. Basically, in this view, people believe that we are are born, live and die alone, by ourselves. We are always looking out for ourselves. And we must dominate others before the other dominates us, therefore we build up our defneses, safety and security, because we fear that the other will hurt us or put us in danger.(This view reminds me of the lower levels of spiritual development discussed by Deepak Chopra.) This view is symbolized by the right hand of God, because in Exodus, 15:6, Miriam says: "Your right Hand, O God
Is awesome in power; Your right Hand, O God crushes the foe."


2. Spiritual Visionary/ view of hope and love. This view believes that we are not by ourselves. Right from the beginning, we are in a relationship with a mothering other, someone that takes care of us when we are the most vulnerable (mother, father, caregiver, etc..). At that stage in our lives, we could only survive with the help of the other. Additionally, the other did not do this in return for something, they did it completely out of love. Therefore this view tstaes that love is a possibility, safety and security can come from building loving relationships. This view is the left hand of God.(And reminds me of the Chopra's higher stages.)

Lerner also reminded me of Chopra when he said that both of these views that be found in the bible, because the authors of the stories hear God'd voice through their own consciousness with the vocabulary they know and understand. And there are many different voices of God represented in the bible.

Then Lerner discussed a study he has been working on with working, middle class people. Basically, people are being drastically affected by the world of work. In the work place, people are taught (brainwashed?) to maximize money and power. When they encounter other people, they think how can they be of use to me? Are you a potential seller, buyer, supplier, client? And then the people teach this ethic to their children and cycle continues. People are drilled to be materialistic and selfish. But these same people also commented on how they HATED it. They were frustrated that they were unable to contribute to the common good (..the reason why I dropped Journalism..), that they have no purpose in life, and that they don't know who they can trust. These people are searching to transcend this, and address their hugher/spiritual needs. Friendships are thinner now, because they are based on exchanges... the sick/old cannot give back, so their friends drift away, as they are useless . There is no solidarity. The same is true for loving reltationships. We view them like we view the marketplace. We have so many choices, we taste each and every product and test them to see whether we like them. And we pick one on the basis of whether they can take care of our needs. But with this mindset, we are never secure in the relationship, because at any moment your partner, or self, can realize that they can cut a better deal with someone else to better maxmize their self-interest. (thus divorce...) Unfortunately, it is near impossible to NOT have this mindset... but we can TRY! The "new" way is characterized by looking at nature in awe and wonder, and not thinking, "what here can I sell and make a profit from?" and looking at humans as the embodiment of the sacred, not as an object but as a subject, as beibng valuable, not instrumental.

So then Lerner translated this into the political world. Basically, the right realized that these people were looking for something spiritual. Unfortunately, they decided to blame the demeaned other for the world's problems of selfishness and materialism (ie. homosexuals, women, liberals, secular people, etc). However, the right is really to blame for the materialistic/selfish world... they reject the living wage for all, they reject safety and health regulations, and they want an unregulated market... all of which does NOT help the problem. So the right discovered the problem but offered a false solution. Unfortunately, the left is not even in the relevent ballpark to deal with this spiritual lack in people's lives... because traditionally the left has left out religion. But the left will not win without spirituality. Many people who vote for the right actually do agree with leftist platforms.. but their spiritual needs are met with the left. Therefore, the left needs to have a progressive, spiritual politic added to the platform.

This is where the "Network of Spiritual Progressives" takes over. They are a group that has 3 goals:
1) challenge the misuse of God. In the bible, God empowered the powerless to overcome the oppressive powerful. However, the opposite of that is happening now with the right.. the empowerment of the powerful over cutting their own taxes and helping themselves.

2) address the religio-phobia that exists in the left. Some people agree with the left, but they vote with the right because of religious/spiritual concerns. The left needs to stop thinking that religious people are less evolved then everyone else. The left needs to genuinely think of these people are valuable, and not just fake it to get their vote.

3) The new bottom line... changing the way people understand and judge productivity and rationality... the new vision of society based of kindness, love, ethics, caring... see the universe with awe and wonder, see people as the embodiment of God. This paradigm shift seems unrealistic and impossible, but that is not true... people want this and it can happen.

So yeah I was really inspired by his talk and the movement in general. I always get very passionate about these things but have no idea how to do anything about them. I love what the Christian Alliance for Progress, the Progressive Christian, and the Network of Spiritual Progessives stand for... and I really do want to help... I just feel powerless sometimes... or not motivated enough to actually do something. There is this really cool conference in May for the NSP, and I think I might go... maybe I'll be inspired to do some actual work for this movement.