The morning after the election, when I learned the outcome, I felt my knees go weak and a paralysis of disbelief set in. My vision blurred, my stomach knotted, and I went numb. I was in a stupor most of the day. The news on the radio sounded like a distant voice in a dream where everything was normal. But I knew that it wasn’t.
Occasionally I heard someone say what they really think – this man is an autocrat intent on undermining our democratic institutions, tearing apart the fabric of our government, and taking control of our system. Hearing this was like oxygen waking me up and bringing me back to present.
We have to see what is going on and tell the truth of it. To grow and learn from this we have to pay attention. We cannot become lulled into normalizing violence, greed, hatred, prejudice, authoritarian leadership, corruption, white supremacy, or a national religion.
The United States has just elected Donald Trump with a clear majority. He is different from any other person we have chosen for that position. He is an authoritarian leader who does not accept the premise or process of democracy. And we have just handed him the reigns of the most powerful nation in the history of humanity.
I am shocked and dismayed that we find ourselves in this position. I can’t imagine how people see him as an effective leader who will help us solve our problems. It is clear to me that he is only out to serve himself. And the outcome of his presidency will be the decline of our nation and weakening of democracy worldwide.
Many of us are feeling angry, scared, frustrated, and depressed. We see these truths about Trump and those in the party supporting him. We can’t believe this is happening, again, and we don’t know what to do about it.
Such deep dread and anxiety can weigh us down and make us vulnerable to be swallowed up by dark emotions. I am finding that my daily wellness routine of meditation, stretching, exercise, and healthy eating is more essential now than ever. I encourage all of you to focus first on personal self-care. Grounding is required at times like these to keep our head above water.
To put our situation into a context in which it makes sense I zoom out to the broadest perspective that I can imagine. From this expanded view of our human condition I can see a way to respond which addresses the root cause of this dire predicament that we find ourselves in.
A Different Point of View
I don’t believe that Trump and his allies are bad people with evil intent. Rather, they are innocent people who have fallen deeply under the spell of Ego. We all are under this spell to some degree, and they are simply expressing it in its raw, unbridled, form.
The ego is who we think we are. It is the persona that we call me. But it is not who we really are. It is a façade that we present to the world, and a facsimile of our true self.
The ego is our Achille’s Heel. It makes us feel all powerful, but leads ultimately to our downfall. While we are in service to our ego, our real needs go unmet and we become weak and frail.
When we align with ego, we are isolated individuals, everything is “other”, and others are seen as either a threat or an opportunity. This view bolsters our egoic self-image, but it undermines our basic need for connection and the security of belonging to a larger whole. When we serve our ego in this way, we also become dependent on it and deny our need for true freedom and independence.
Trump is the epitome of ego. While many of us try to hide our egoic nature, he flouts it. This may be why people are attracted to him. He is relatively transparent about his ego desires. He isn’t trying to pretend that he doesn’t have them.
Ego is our animal nature. It is who we are without culture, civility, morality, or integrity. Ego only wants to serve itself and perpetuate its own existence. It sees itself in competition with all other egos for its survival. Ego wants to dominate and can only exploit others for its own ends.
Security for ego is to be the only one – the last one standing. It will destroy everything to achieve this end. Ego’s nature is fascist, authoritarian, and dominant. It cannot genuinely collaborate or share.
Ego has to be on top and put everyone else below it. Under the influence of ego we are bound to be prejudiced, sexist, and racist. We put our race and gender above everyone else’s and see them as less than us.
Ego expresses itself in the rugged individual identity that still dominates the culture of the United States and much of the world. It is everyone for themselves, dog eat dog, and survival of the fittest.
From this perspective the movement of the Republican party toward authoritarianism is no surprise. Ego cannot thrive in democracy. A society where everyone is included with equal status renders the ego irrelevant.
Democracy is a practice to reduce ego, and free ourselves from its destructive grip. It is a spiritual path toward our own true well-being. It is noble, elegant, and difficult.
Democracy requires us to broaden our perspective to include everyone else’s. We cannot simply divide the word into us and them, right and wrong. Every single voice and point of view have a place.
In Democracy there is much more grey area than black or white. It is not easy to navigate and cannot be reduced to ideology or platitude. I can understand why so many of us have given up on it. Authoritarian leadership, patriarchy, religious fundamentalism, and old-school morality are much easier by comparison.
What to Do Now?
This event, and the shock and dismay that many of us are feeling about it, is a call to action. We know what Trump is capable of and how he will operate. We know his intentions and the methods he uses. It is reasonable to assume that he will go about this with much more haste and effectiveness his second time around.
If we value democracy and the individual dignity and freedom that it represents, we will have to defend it. However, we also have to act smartly.
The natural response is to push back, resist, and fight against the Trump administration and those in the Republican party backing it. But it will not help us to fight in this way, or to speak of this in terms of a battle.
The ego feeds on conflict. Blaming the other side and directing forceful language or actions against them only makes the problem worse. Demonizing them plays into the ego’s hand and strengthens it.
We need to be smart about our response and recognize that the root of this crisis is our allegiance to our own ego. None of us are free from this, so in that sense the cause of the problem is within each of us.
I know this perspective goes against every instinct that we have and makes no sense at first. But please bear with me for a moment.
Trump is showing us how vicious and self-destructive the ego really is. He is displaying it without filters so that we can all see it. Our ego prefers to hide in the shadows and control us through our unconscious. Once it is out in the open and we look directly at it, however, the ego loses its power.
The most effective way to view Trump is as a projection of your own ego. He is what your ego is capable of. He is doing what your ego would do if it had no more guardrails.
This thought may be intolerable to you, and that is understandable. We project onto others that which we most despise about ourselves. This is how ego keeps itself invisible and maintains its control over us.
Our Inherent Unity
If you consider the possibility of what I am proposing, a way forward begins to become apparent. If the problem is actually rooted within your own allegiance to ego, you can do something about that. You can become aware of the influence of ego in your own life and by that very awareness begin to free yourself from it
One way to do this is to interrupt the habit of creating an “us and them”. We can begin to see everyone as extensions of ourselves – forming one unified whole. We can stop blaming and judging others, including Trump and his allies, for our suffering.
In doing this we break the spell of ego. We step out of the vicious cycle of demonizing the opposition that is tearing our society and world apart.
I am not suggesting that we simply go along with the Trump administration or submit to the rogue Republican party. I believe that we need to respond with integrity and power. And that begins with refusing to make them the enemy or see them as the other side.
We are all on the same side in the end. This is the big life lesson that we are here on earth to learn. Our attraction to ego obscures this and makes it appear as if we are each on our own having to fend for our own survival. But in reality, this is not true.
Trump and the movement behind him thrive on opposition and conflict. As we respond, it is essential that we don’t play the same game. That will only strengthen our dependence on ego and the polarized view of the world that it requires.
The way out of this is to see us all as on the same team, and treat those who we want to stop as part of ourselves. They are like children who have gone out of control and are tearing the house apart. And what is required is a loving and firm parent who sets boundaries without hurting the children or judging them as bad.
Breaking the Spell
The most effective response to a person like Trump and the movement that he represents is to break the spell of ego. And the way we do that is by refusing to condemn, judge, or separate from them. I know this sounds counterintuitive and goes against all conventional wisdom. But this situation demands a radical response, not a conventional one.
A radical response is to refuse to play the ego’s game. We can deny the urge to separate ourselves from them. We can set up boundaries. We don’t have to agree, cooperate, or submit. And we can do that without making them the enemy or closing our hearts to them.
In the end we are all part of one whole nation and world. Despite how it appears right now, we are more alike than different. We each want the same basic things and share the same basic feelings and thoughts. We just have very different ways of going about getting those needs met and expressing our emotions.
Anger, hatred, and prejudice boost the energy of ego, but do not nurture our true being. They consume our vital energy and exhaust us. The way of the ego does not work in the long run. It relies on force, which depletes everyone and runs out eventually.
Trumps way of consolidating power is to turn us against each other. He plays on our lesser instincts and sows seeds of fear and doubt by making up stories that are not true.
This is the influence that our allegiance to ego has on us. Listening to the voice of ego we become suspicious of each other and any difference between us appears threatening. Fear is the dominant emotion, and co-dependent attachment is mistaken for love.
We break the spell of ego by activating real love for each other and all of life. This means accepting each other as we are, with all of our apparent differences. It means focusing on the ways that we are alike, even as we may disagree over values or strategies. Ego cannot disrupt or destroy a world where we know each other as part of one whole.
Comments