WHO IS THE REAL DEVIL IN AMERICAN POLITICS?

(also published in the Huffington Post and Kindred Spirit (UK)
American politics isn't about American politics. It's about the patterns behind our daily choices, the outdated beliefs we don't realize we still follow, and the shared conscious connections we have with our friends and family. Right now, American politics is putting on display what our culture is ready to look at. It is showing us what Americans need to make a choice about. We may choose to continue certain behaviors, or we may choose to change certain behaviors. But even the choice to continue certain behaviors will be made in a conscious manner because the American candidates and the 'circus of it all' is bringing these choices to our attention. 

We are choosing between two distinct ways of living life. These two choices can be summed up as questions:

     1. Is this what we really want? 

     2. Is this what we are willing to tolerate? 

Our choice may well define American society for the next several decades.  

That old adage of choosing the 'devil you know' rather than the 'devil you don't know' is at play here. What appears to be the 'devil we don't know' only looks devilish because we don't know it. As people living in a quickly changing world, our tendency is to choose the discomfort we know, rather than chance a greater discomfort within the unknown. Of course, this keeps us in a constant state of discomfort!

But with this election we have the ability to make a choice, and to choose something new for ourselves. I think that we keep forgetting that if we choose something new, and it is uncomfortable, we can always make another choice. Restaurants hate it when we send food back, but it happens. We are allowed a do-over in other areas of our lives too.

But we tend to fear trying something new. Our tendency is to assume that if we choose something new, (i.e. the devil we don't know), that it will be worse than our current circumstances (the devil we do know). Our fear of the unknown creates a belief that there will be pain in the unknown. Therefore we will not change. We fear the potential pain that we assume lies within the unknown more than we fear the known pain.

Politics isn't about choosing a candidate. It is about each person making their own internal choice. Do you choose to tolerate the devil you know in your life? Or do you choose to answer the question 'What it is that you really want?' When we each answer that question honestly, I believe that our politicians will have to answer it as well.  

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Norma Gentile, sound shaman, uses music to magnify our innate ability to bring our bodies and lives into balance. Her spoken word meditations for spiritual growth and albums of sacred medieval chant by St. Hildegard of Bingen are available at iTunes and amazon.com. Check her out now at www.HealingChants.com