We are at an interesting and, some say, a critical crossroads in our history.   The skirmish currently underway between the left and the right over whose philosophy will shape the next chapter in American History has heated up to a point where it is now a battle for the very Soul of this Nation.

Some suggest that what is at stake is democracy itself and a way of life that the majority of us citizens have come to accept and value greatly.  It is also a way of life that the world, at large, has viewed as a beacon of hope leading to what is possible when human freedom, ingenuity and passion combine.

As this battle rages on and continues to impact more and more of us, not to mention the survival of our precious habitat, there are those who are calling for us to go out into the streets to protest and non-violently demonstrate our solidarity behind those who are trying to protect our rights and prevent the few from solidifying their control over the many.

From our perspective there is a great deal of truth in these concerns about the well-being of our democracy and the safety and security of a way of life that has – until recently - provided extraordinary opportunities or at least the promise of them to people of all races, creeds, colors and ages to pursue their dreams while also providing sufficient support and protection for those who are less fortunate, particularly the young, the disadvantaged and the elderly.

And while we do not know if it is yet time to take to the streets, to begin using general strikes, work slowdowns and boycotts, we are abundantly clear that unless we raise our collective voices and reclaim on our right to participate actively in determining our own future, this future will, indeed be determined for us by people who appear, at least from our perspective, to have lost both their moral and their ethical compass; by people whose primary desire appears to be to shape this once great nation into a kind of private protectorate in which they can exercise their own biases, enforce their limited beliefs and continue to accumulate more and more political power and a greater and more disproportionate share of the financial wealth.

Not a pretty picture, at least from our point of view.   However, what is also clear to us is that if those of us who do not want to see democracy end and who do not want to live under the rule of the few, do not turn inward to listen and respond to the wisdom that issues from our hearts and that speaks the language of greater consciousness, all of the protesting in the world will accomplish little. 

Yes, if we are to be successful in returning this nation to a path of sanity and stability we must remember that life is an inside out job and one of our first responsibilities is to identify and clear up those places within us that are bounded by limited beliefs and captured in habituated behaviors.

If we do this first or, at the very least, while we do what we do out in the world, these things will actually work.  For we will be acting from a place of supporting the greater good for the greatest number. 

Yes, if we do this work of raising our individual consciousness if we have the courage to go to those places inside us where prejudice hides, where fear of the other and the unknown is present; if we heal the emotional wounds that blind us and prevent us from expressing our compassion, our empathy and, above all, if we remember that each and every one of us who is part of this thing called humanity are in this together and then we will have a real chance of making a real different in life in these awkward times.

It may take a little more time and provide those who are intent on re-writing our Constitution and subverting the will of our founders more opportunity to advance their ill intent, but in the end, we will be successful. 

For the Power of One, especially when that power is exercised from the inside out with integrity and emotional as well as intellectual honesty; especially when it is guided by that inner wisdom that speaks from the heart and not just the head; especially when it is aligned with decency, calls for collaboration, speaks with compassion and issues from love, will, in the end prove to be much stronger and more durable than any of ideas advanced by those who would enslave us.