If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will remember that, a couple of weeks ago, I talked about empathy and energy. My conclusion, if you recall, was that empathy was a good thing, because it caused us to want to create joy for everyone, as a way to create joy for ourselves.
Then I received this daily quote from Abraham-Hicks:
There are as many different worlds as there are perceivers or Beings or individuals. You are not here to create one world where everyone is the same, wanting and getting the same. You are here to be that which you want to be, while you allow all others to be that which they want to be.
—Abraham
Excerpted from the book – The Law of Attraction, The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham
I was then having trouble reconciling the two ideas. How do we allow others to be and do what they want, whilst still wanting joy for them and others, whose joy they may be limiting?
Perhaps the answer was in the next daily quote I received:
The best you can do for anyone is to thrive fully and be willing to explain to anyone who asks how it is that you are thriving, and what it is that you’ve discovered—and then, just relax and trust that all truly is well.
—Abraham
Excerpted from the workshop in Buffalo, NY on May 20, 2003
Whilst all these thoughts were going through my head, I was seeing and hearing a number of complaints about Tony Abbott and his new government, and changes which they had already instigated in relation to Live Animal Exports, and protection of The Great Barrier Reef. I thought: “Well, this is what the people voted for. There is nothing we can do about it, is there?”
This week I just happened to watch the movie, The Lady, the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, a lady who has suffered greatly in order to attempt to bring democracy to Myanmar (Burma).
I realised that, while we complain about the consequences of our democratic elections, there are millions of people around the world, who would be glad to have had the chance to have their vote counted. Perhaps it is time that we stopped complaining and started to take some inspiration from Aung San Suu Kyi, and people like her, who have not been afraid to take a stand, and peacefully campaign for changes they see as necessary.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been quoted as saying: “Government leaders are amazing. So often it seems they are the last to know what the people want.”
I got the impression, prior to this recent Australian election, that many people were intending to vote, not for the person who would represent their views and values in relation to the issues, but for the person who was least likely to stuff things up.
Why are government leaders the last to know what the people want? Perhaps, because we have neglected to tell them.
Have we been complaining to anyone who would listen about what we think the new government has done wrong, or for that matter, what the previous one did worse, but neglecting to make our feelings known to those people who can make a difference – our elected representatives, and their party policy-making team? In Law of Attraction terms, isn’t that just creating more of the same?
Could it be that, in order to bring joy to others, as we desire to do as empathic beings, we need to step out of our comfort zones and shine our light on the issues which we think could create joy for the most beings?
Can we shine our light on an issue in such a way that we are not pushing against something, but instead, we are being an example of one who is thriving, as Abraham suggested, whilst inspiring others to want to change their minds in relation to particular issues, so that they, too, may thrive?
These thoughts have led me to the conclusion that we may have been squandering our democracy. I believe that if we want to see changes in this country, it might be time now to start becoming a greater part of the democratic process.
Maybe the answer for you might be to join a political party which best aligns with your values, and if there are ways in which that party is not representing your values, then work to change the party from within, by offering them better solutions.
Maybe the answer for you might be to write to your local members and government leaders, and tell them what your values are. At least, then they could not say that they didn’t know your wishes.
Perhaps by taking a greater role in the democratic process, we can begin to lead our country into the direction we would like it to go, instead of just pushing against the way that it has been going.
Perhaps then, when Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese people finally achieve real democracy in their country, they will see a shining example in Australia of true democracy in action.
Although this blog is addressing democracy in Australia, it applies equally to any country where voters think that their responsibility to the democratic process ends when they cast their vote, and even more so to people who have the right to vote, but fail to take up that right.
If you believe that everything in this world happens for a reason, could it be that the challenges faced by the people of Myanmar to having their voices heard, have happened to remind those of us in democratic countries to never take that right for granted?
The real miracle would be if we could create such a shining example of democracy in action, where no one feels threatened by it, that even those clinging to power in non-democratic countries may be able to embrace it.
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