In this election year there is much talk about Big vs Little government, Liberal vs Conservative, bringing to the collective mind important questions such as: How do we structure healthy policies on immigration, healthcare, community safety, regulations of financial institutions, global and local prosperity? While the following excerpt from Beyond the Dream, does not tell us “what to do” in the current political confusion, it does help us see where good, healthy ideas will come from:

. . .We can distinguish two types of order: sick order and healthy order.  In sick order there is tyranny and repression. It is based on human willfulness. It is a manifestation of “should” thinking. By this we mean thinking in terms of preconceived ideas of what should be or what should not be. . . .Another form of sick order is the result of permissiveness which results in licentious disorderliness, or chaotic conditions of confusion, neglect, and criminality both in individuals and society. . .

Thus we see that structure, while absolutely necessary, remains a constant problem, and it seems almost impossible to have just the right amount of it at all times and under all circumstances. If there is too much of it, it leads to strangulation; and if there is too little of it, it leads to disorganization, anxiety, and chaos.

. . .Thus we have to consider the possibility of healthy order. As was mentioned before, sick order or structure is based on human willfulness or human willlessness, over-concern or neglect, tyranny or permissiveness. Sick order is a disease of the human will.

. . .In contrast to this, healthy order is primarily characterized by principles of aesthetics. Here beauty, harmony, joy, intelligence, love, and the enhancement of the quality of life are the basic ingredients. For instance, a bouquet of flowers or a blossoming forsythia bush may be judged very unstructured, even haphazard; yet inherent in each is a higher type of order and structure signifying aesthetic value. Aesthetic structures are transcendent and independent of human volition and calculative thinking. . . .

Healthy order is spiritual**. Spiritual values and principles constitute the “infinite structure” which makes freedom and responsibility compatible with creativity and fulfillment. Healthy order is under the control of infinite creative Mind, cosmic Love-Intelligence.  (my emphasis)

-Dr. Hora, Beyond The Dream: Session  19, The Curtain of Fear

**: What is meant by “spiritual” is best illustrated in contrast to what is considered “material.” Spiritual is non- material substance – it refers to those qualities of existence that are non-dimensional, immutable and eternal. They are the context for healthy living. We recognize them when we see qualities such as beauty, harmony, joy, intelligence, wisdom, love, etc.

 The current political conversation is revealing deep-seated cultural thoughts about what is needed and wanted now – some that are healthy and some that are unhealthy. From the infinite view what is needed is not condemnation of the individuals who are expressing views different from our own, as many are merely repeating what they have been taught and reacting to what they have experienced as a result of unhealthy order.  After all, some of the views that each of us adhere to may be unhealthy in ways we have not considered.

We can be interested in looking for good ideas from a diversity of sources, distinguishing them from political garbage. These good ideas along with statements clarifying the problems we are facing need to come to the surface of the political conversation – as messy as that may seem. 

Observing the political conversation with the eyes of aesthetic order we can see within the political night sky, specs of light appearing within the backdrop of dark, as we live in the expectancy of dawn.