Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw in his 1903 work,
Man and Superman lifts a mental shade from our social thoughts, and we begin to see the power we have inside of us. Personal responsibility is the key to responsible political behavior. That seems like an understated solution to our social and political debacle, but in this reality the only change that produces a change in our social and political system is a change in our belief structure. We expand our beliefs about physical truths constantly, but overlook that fact due to our educated ignorance about the nature of consciousness. We are caught in a dual party political web that hinders us from seeing anything, but that web.
Shaw also said:
As long as I can conceive something better than myself I cannot be easy unless I am striving to bring it into existence or clearing the way for it.
We are forever moving towards a better understanding of the political and economic structure we created in our image. We create pockets of separation between our innate awareness of political and economic improprieties in order to experience the contrast that stimulates personal expansion. Contrast is the tool we used to better understand the nature of the self as well as the political system we helped create. Within these pockets are bundled up wrappers of self-righteousness, which infects our social expansion. These wrappers of human half-truths vacillate in a man-made pot of servitude.
Our elected political leaders use that pot to control our expansion, and shade our innate responsibility to be united in our diversity. When we vote for a particular party and candidate, we give those leaders much more than our responsibility, and then expect them to give us what we want in return. What they give us is head shaking empty expectations that are filled with the system’s sameness.
Our political leaders say and do the same thing every at election time, and expect us to conform in this pot of servitude by voting for change. Change is the battle cry of each candidate, and we buy into it because we believe that they are acting responsible, but they lack the tools to effect the change they believe they want to achieve. They live in a separated world of drama and name calling, which is fuel by the greedy system. They give up their responsibility and ours to a system that fosters half-truths and misconceptions.
Political leaders live in a false state of utopia where sameness is the measuring stick for acceptance. They don’t know how to unite the country in the spirit of true change because the system is ridged in terms of beliefs.
Ronald Aronson in his 1995 book
Beyond Marxism wrote:
As recent students of utopia have articulated, vigorous utopian thinking sketches models of a peaceable kingdom, points us toward society’s repressed possibilities, enables us to see more clearly actual tendencies, both positive and negative, strengthens our grounds for rejecting existing social forms, reactivates lost dreams and longings, and encourages political action.
Political utopia is not a stationary place where perfection rules― it is an ever-changing state of mind where personal and social responsibility fuels the kingdom. That means voting for true reform not just voting along party lines. Parties were established to accent separation in a time when conflict was the norm. That norm is not our norm.
The main ingredient in establishing political utopia is electing representatives that want to instigate social reform and revamp the system, rather than becoming part of the empty political and economic machine that is fueled by this broken system.
Hal Manogue
Born in Philadelphia, Howard (Hal) (Howie) Thomas Manogue spent the first twenty-one years of his life conforming to logical beliefs and rituals. He spent the next twenty-six years of his life rebelling against those beliefs and rituals in one way or another. For the last twelve years he has devoted his life to dissecting beliefs and that journey has taken him through the history of religious thought and the intricacies of philosophy.
Retiring from the shoe industry after 35 years of “sole” searching, Hal discovered his real soul when he started writing poetry in 1996. His first book, Short Sleeves A Book For Friends, was self-published in 2003. His second book, Short Sleeves A Book For Friends 2006 Collection, was released in May 2006. His third book, Short Sleeves A Book For Friends 2007 Collection, was released in January 2007. Short Sleeves Spirit Songs was published in July 2008. Spirit Songs Echoes of Silence will be released in 2011. Essays from the book, Short Sleeves Insights: Live An Ordinary Life In A Non-Ordinary Way (published in May 2008) have been republished in other books and newsletters around the globe. All these books are available on his Web site: http://www.shortsleeves.net/.
Hal’s poems have been published by Mystic Pop Magazine, Children of the New Earth Magazine, New Age Tribune, Seasons of the Soul Newsletters, The Ascension Network, Lightship News, and Writers in the Sky E-zine. On his blog, he has published over a thousand essays on consciousness.
His new novel living Behind the Beauty Shop is available online and in bookstores or visit: www.livingbehindthebeautyshop.com
Hal currently lives in Brentwood, Tennessee with his wife, Joanie.
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