Spirituality Beyond Politics

Whenever I criticize the actions of our government in this blog, I am accused of engaging in partisan politics. This happened again in response to my recent post entitled “Love in the Time of MAGA.” I thought it was clear that I was talking about Divine Love. It is in the title! Most of the post was a paraphrase of a biblical passage about Love. Yet some readers thought I was really talking about politics. This is not the first time my writing has received such a response.

Clearly my message of Christian nonduality is not getting through. Let me make it as clear as I can. This is about spirituality and how it plays out in our lives and in society. It is not about politics. I am not part of the Democratic-Republican feud. I am not a member of either party. I am not progressive or conservative.

I do not care whether a politician has an R or a D after their name. I care whether they have the moral character to break from their party for the sake of truth and honesty. The present crisis in this country transcends politics. It is a moral crisis. It is not an issue of right and left, but right and wrong. It is not about red and blue, but good and evil.

But isn’t the use of phrases like “right and wrong” and “good and evil” dualistic? Yes, it is. Here is where more clarification is needed. Those familiar with nonduality (and most people aren’t) understand it as transcending dualistic categories including good and evil, right and wrong. And that is true! Nonduality transcends all duality!

Nonduality transcends ethics. Yet nonduality is not amoral. It is not moral relativism. Nonduality does not negate the importance of morality on the human level. It acknowledges that in the realm of human affairs morality plays an important part. Yet nonduality sees beyond the moral duality to the Ultimate Reality that is beyond good and evil, right and wrong.

When one sees this Truth, it changes everything. Jesus experienced that shift in perspective. He proclaimed it. He called it the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. In the tradition of Jesus, Christian Nonduality transcends morality without negating it. In the same way Jesus explained that he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. Nonduality fulfills morality.

Christian nonduality is unique among other nondual traditions, which are usually from the Eastern branches of religion. Many people think that nonduality has nothing to do with morality. Instead, it is thought to be all about the individual’s quest for liberation or spiritual awakening. Yet Christian nonduality is expressed in personal and societal morality. It is not political partisanship; it is spirituality expressed in social conscience.

Nondual spirituality does not say that actions don’t matter. Good and evil, right and wrong are important. The two extremes are not morally equivalent. But they are not Real in an ultimate sense. Nonduality transcends human ethics, but it recognizes that humans make moral choices. There is no getting away from moral decision-making, as much as some religious people would like to.

In decades past most churches thought that politics was “worldly” and the gospel was “spiritual.” Churches confined themselves to “spiritual” matters. Churches did not get involved in politics. It was thought unseemly for pastors to get involved in such matters. In conservative churches, “the Social Gospel” was a pejorative term. It was considered unspiritual.

Now in conservative Christianity, political partisanship is a formula for an invitation to the White House and a pathway to influential pulpits! Many Christian preachers have added conservative political causes to their professional resume. People assume I have made the same choice when I speak on social issues; they just assume I am on the progressive side. Readers have called me a socialist and a Marxist.

I am not. I am not political. I am not partisan. I am spiritual. The spiritual quest has always been my passion. Social morality is an expression of the spiritual life. Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton, and Martin Luther King are good examples.

Choosing not to make moral decisions on the national and international level is itself a moral choice. Christian nonduality recognizes that we play the game of human life while recognizing that our true nature transcends it.

Jesus spoke a lot about social morality, especially economic justice. That is what got him in trouble. Jesus was not executed for his religious claims, even though he was accused of blasphemy by religious authorities. He was executed by the Roman government because he was deemed a political threat.

Christian nonduality is in this tradition of Jesus and the Hebrew prophets, as well as the Hebrew Wisdom tradition. I am in the tradition of Jesus, not a Hindu guru and certainly not the evangelical court prophets so visible these days.

Christian nonduality is rooted in Christ. I criticize the actions of this present administration from the perspective of Christ, not a political ideology. I have no political party. If you check the voter rolls in my New Hampshire town, you will find that I am “unaffiliated.” I vote for candidates of both parties ... and third parties. Yet people assume that if I criticize this administration, I must be a member of the “other” party or ideology.

So I am writing this post today to clarify this misunderstanding. I doubt this will work. We live in a very politicized culture. People assume everything is about politics. People tend not to see the spiritual dimension; they see only political allies or adversaries. For me everything is about spirituality. Everything is an expression of One Spiritual Reality, including morality, both individual and national.

As the Protestant reformer Martin Luther said, “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” In my case it is better expressed as, “Here I sit, transcending Left and Right.” (Along that line, the image at the head of this post is generated by the Artificial Intelligence known as ChatGPT, with a little guidance from some human intelligence.)

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