Let's Get Spiritual

If democracy is who we really are

In the 80s, the hit song “Let’s Get Physical” was very popular but somewhat against getting spiritual. Yet for many, the pendulum has swung and the easiest way for all of us to agree on what getting spiritual means is to just see things symbolically, each of us defining it with our own beliefs, religious or not. This is what our democracy needs to unite us and get us through this hour: a common language each of us can define with our own beliefs.

Let’s get spiritual with David then Trump

This discussion is not to confirm or deny the physical existence of David, King of Israel. It is to interpret everything we know about him spiritually. To start, it is recorded that he committed adultery and had the woman’s husband killed. Spiritually, he lusted in his heart over her and hated her husband. If you are not familiar with the Bible, Jesus said that one who lusts in their heart has committed adultery and John said that one who hates their brother (or sister) is a murderer. For our purposes, David did these things in his heart alone, violations in the democracy of his conscience.

David loved his enemies

If we stop there, David’s story tells everyone’s story, for lust and hatred have cast their shadow in everyone’s heart at some point in our lives. However, consider these words from among the voluminous writings attributed to David. When his enemies, those who wanted him dead, were sick, he prayed and fasted for them and said, “I paced about as though it were a friend or brother (or sister). As though it were (my) mother, I bowed down and mourned heavily.”

So how does this line up with David lusting and hating? And is there spiritual killing that is not an act of hatred in our heart? For reportedly, he killed tens of thousands in war. And will it better explain the spiritual stories in the democracy of our conscience?

Physical and Spiritual Will

First, we must each interpret what is symbolized by the word “will”. The loss of physical will can be depicted by the inability to get out of bed. The loss of spiritual will can be depicted by the inability to choose to get out of bed. Did David lose the ability to look at the woman and her husband with respect? Let’s presume that he wanted to look at them with respect—based on his words on loving his enemies, mourning for those who hated him.

Name (God or Life depending on your beliefs) is quoted saying, “[David] will do all of My will.” Looking at this spiritually, David did not do Name’s will when he lusted and hated, unless we believe that Name did not expect him to do what he could not. In other words, if David wanted to look at them respectfully but lost his ability to do so, then he still could have done all of Name’s will in the sense of doing it in areas where he was still able. (Note that involuntary reactions of lust or hatred last only a moment and are not controllable. It is the inability to control our response to involuntary reactions, referred to as addiction, that is at the heart of being unable to do Name’s will.)

Isn’t this what God or Life expects from all of us in our democracies and no more? Does this explain our stories if we want to love the enemies of our conscience but cannot? Is that the end of it or does Name expect us to learn how to unlock our love naturally? Through a servant, Name treated David as though, symbolically or not, he had committed adultery and murder willfully. But as soon as David took responsibility, the servant of Name immediately told him that Name had taken away his immorality and that he would not die.

David was not punished with death, as was normally required, only because they were not willful acts. Spiritually speaking, this is the death of conscience that takes us through a greater cycle of blindness. To avoid it though, David had to take responsibility for having lost—at some point in his life—the ability to see others with respect. Only then was his blindness taken away. He was now ready and eager to learn how to unlock his love for everyone, by seeing them as they are, not as they see themselves, to love his enemies without being against himself.

The Bible states that Name loved Jacob but hated Esau. Jacob was spiritually reborn with the name Israel, so he knew who he was. Esau did not know who he was, therefore, Name hated who Esau thought he was. For if He hated Esau directly, Name hated Himself since He made Esau in His own image, spiritually speaking. Life hating Life, no. Here is the spiritual hatred that David used to spiritually kill the tens of thousands. He hated who they thought they were in his heart, loving who they really were. The democracy of our conscience requires the same of us.

Who Absalom thought he was

Then, there is the case of David’s son, Absalom, who wanted to take David’s throne for himself. Think of the symbolism here in regard to family. David loved Absalom in spite of this but refused to kill who he thought he was in his heart. When one of David’s soldiers killed him, David mourned publicly for him, causing an uproar among the people who fought for David. They thought that he would have preferred that they all died in place of his son. They did not know how to love the enemies of their conscience, the downfall of every democracy.

The question is whether David could when it came to his family. Since the removal of all blindness coincides with seeing and loving the enemies of conscience better, David must have discovered a blind part in himself, otherwise this would have been willful. There is the possibility though that it was only made to appear as though he had not spiritually killed (hated) who Absalom thought he was for a greater purpose. Aside from that, he should have killed who Absalom thought he was in his heart—but perhaps he could not because he lost his will to let go of the image of him as a son.

Certainly it is respectful to hold this image up as part of a treasured relationship in this world. However, it appears that David was unwillingly or unknowingly using it to block his view of who Absalom was in the spirit. This would indicate that David was unwillingly or unknowingly holding on to a part of his own image as a father in this world—at the expense of seeing all family members in spirit. See “Restoring Good Boundaries to the Democracy of our Conscience.”

To get spiritual with Trump, we first need to consider whether he has lost his ability to look at all others with respect, has lost sight of who we all are. Presuming that he has, to love him as an enemy of our conscience, we must see him as he is in spirit, which is what makes us want to love anyone in truth. Only then will we mourn for him when he is sick, pray and fast for him, never assuming that he is able but does not want to respect all others. Then, we can spiritually kill (hate) who he thinks he is by loving who he really is in our hearts, otherwise, we really do not know who we are.

Spirituality and Democracy

Seeing one another spiritually is the foundation of getting and being spiritual, without losing sight of the good, bad and ugly of what is before us in our democracy. We can say that spiritually we are light. And while this is symbolical, subject to each of our own interpretations, it does hold common meaning between us. It describes our shared experience as conscientious life, the basis for democracy.

We can also say that, spiritually, there is a unity that exists between our light, a common level of intelligence called the light of Word (the Word of Life or the Word of God), which also exists in full in each of us, blind to it or not in our democracy.

Therefore, if we love Name (God or Life), we do so from the light of Word, the singularity of our unity as it exists on both levels. This is who we are and what makes democracy work. Those of us who do not know who they are are still part of our singularity and if a fellow citizen, still part of our democracy in the singularity. Both levels of our singularity are still used in full, knowingly or not, to love Name through each other—with an intelligent love referred to as the principle.

We kill (hate) who they think they are by seeing through their illusion with the light of our singularity and loving them as enemies of themselves—enemies of their own part in our world democracy in Word’s singularity. We are not against ourselves, so we endure the bad but resist the ugly things they do before our eyes, while not judging but loving them.

Can we save our democracy?

Capitalism in the Democracy of our Conscience