We catch a glimpse of “the soul of America” in the dream of America, her highest aspirations she wishes to manifest in her limited time on Earth. The call to each of us is to keep America’s dream for herself alive, her initial ideal “blueprint,” her purpose and meaning for existence.
Who can know her heart, mind, and soul? Only her maker, only herself. And so, we who are a part of her, or a witness to her story, wait for signs of how to proceed. Is she taking a bold leap of faith or a desperate, last-second thrusting of herself into the darkness ahead, the only path left open to her senses and beliefs?
America is impulsive, quick to think and act, and America longs to be free, her people long to be free, every fiber of her being longs to be free, and yet life on earth poses many, many limitations. Still, her vision and calling ring true: Freedom to choose. In spiritual traditions that acknowledge will, freedom is the ultimate impulse. And yet in America it has become an individualized impulse, forgetting that every person is a cell in the body of America. These cells, we the people, must work together in harmony, cooperation, and collaboration for the body of America to be healthy and vibrant, and globally aware of her place in the order of things beyond her shores and her own visions.
The soul of America is not to be viewed as fractured into many disparate pieces, divided unto itself. Its body is certainly differentiated into systems and structures intended to serve the whole, but they are not serving the whole. They are not, having come under the illusion that freedom means separation. It does not.
Who Can Save America From Herself?
To heal the soul of America requires attention to the notion of freedom, being free to choose and yet to choose wisely, recognizing that she, and each of her cells, us, is a part of something greater: North America, Western hemisphere, Earth, the solar system, the galaxies, the universe and beyond. And of course, the scale goes the other way from cell to atom to particle on into the microcosm, always a part of something larger. This is essential knowledge for health and healing.
America’s soul, it’s been said in the frenzied campaigns for national leadership this year, is held in the balance of this free choice, this use of will, to determine who can best lead America toward her vision of freedom for all.
That is a false hope that the hate-filled, fear-mongering parties of today can lead this nation toward America’s vision of freedom for all. Unless and until the leadership embraces all of America – her systems, structures, cells, her people – her dream remains an unmanifested dream. And she knows her time is limited, just as every living being on Earth is limited.
Growing Pains Are Soul Size
We feel her anxiety, agitation, eruptions, burnings, blastings, floods of tears for what was and is no more. She is not who she was in her infancy or her youth or her adolescence. She is growing and learning from her mistakes and small successes. She is maturing and becoming an adult, aware of responsibilities and duties that were so fleeting and flaunted in her youthful enthusiasm for discovery and exploration, and building bigger and better structures and systems. She is a bright student who attracts attention, both admiration and fear of her power to produce with the cooperation or coercion of her people.
Crisis is upon her. Multiple crises. And in her enthusiasm to problem solve, and in any case patch and resolve quickly as possible whatever impedes her freedom, she has abused her body, neglected her cells, her people. And now she is sick, soul sick. Her vision of freedom for all has not proven true. Is her “blueprint” faulty or just too ideal to take form?
She refused to give up the impulse to be free, and so here we are, trying to save the soul of America, not only so that we personally prosper but so that we affirm her vision. Freedom is possible. What’s amiss is that freedom/independence does not mean separation/isolation.
Declaration of Interdependence
Interdependence is what we need to declare: A declaration of interdependence has been made many times but has yet to be codified and revered like the Declaration of Independence of our ancestors. The vision was simply too small. Too small.
It’s time to save America’s soul by drafting a declaration of interdependence. Freedom of choice is exercised best in choosing to step into the model of interdependence, recognizing that each individual’s move/choice affects every other individual’s life, and therefore their choices, so best to keep the interests and wellbeing of all in mind when making individual choices.
American then manifests her dream of freedom of choice for all, nothing coerced for better or worse. Then I exercise individual freedom of choice and say: This is my house, and with pride I make it my own expression of comfort and beauty, and by doing so, I enhance my neighborhood and my neighborhood enhances my town, city, state, country, world, planet, solar system, galaxy and beyond.
This is individual freedom of choice to shape the universe. It is an expression of power to create a vision of harmony and hope for all: America’s vision, her soul’s desire. Let’s make it so.
By Jean Hopes, Website here.
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