Politics and harvest

[YinYang]

Probably not. What does concern me is that most ordinary Americans still identify strongly with their national identity.

Also true, but true for the majority of earthlings also. Identification is actually one of the things one consistently work on during a spiritual practise, because we link our identities to so many illusory things, consciously and unconsciously. For people without a strong sense of self, those identifications help them to maintain some sort of flimsy identity that is so fragile it can collapse like a house of cards at any moment. One of our top psychologists speaks quite a bit about identification, because he believes it is one of the main sources of so much internal suffering. We had a situation here where one of our biggest banks retrenched thousands, and some fainted, others considered suicide, and some even had to be dragged out of the building... this after decades of employment.

So this psychologist worked with many of them individually, and they broadcasted these sessions live on the radio. And it was so interesting once he managed to sever the link in their heads, and explained to them that their indentities are not reliant on their positions in the bank, and he in fact spoke to all the listeners and said you are not your job, you are so much more, that some of them said they feel a sense of freedom they've never felt before, and that they feel expansive, because that identification caused internal restriction and anxiety, because there is always the gnawing awareness that the job is not safe.

And national identity is one of the strongest, because it is consistently propped up and encouraged from a very tender age. Einstein said: "nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." But if you consider that Ra said "the greater preponderance of your entities find themselves in what may be considered a perpetual childhood" then you will be more accepting of these things, because it is not going to change in the short run. How people can't live without "a badge", or belonging to "some club or group". Jiddu Krishnamurti also saw the perils of identification, so he said he has no allegiance to any nationality, caste, religion, or philosophy.

So much of the strife in this world is because of identification, like violence breaking out at sport events for example. The folly continues. If anything, I think it will be a great catalyst for Americans when their identification with "we are no. 1" and "we are exceptional" is threatened. That is a wonderful catalyst for growth. I recently saw an example of this in the comments section of a tech article, when China launched the world's fastest computer, and without an Intel chip which is American, and some Americans posted such scornful comments that I sometimes laughed out loud, that's all identification... while without the identification they would have congratulated the Chinese, and realised the exciting possibilities for "us all".

And so we identify with gender, sexual orientation, country, flag, race, heritage, social status, financial status, the car we drive, occupation, religion, philosophy, sports team, political party, liberal, conservative, our past achievements, our past failures, our partners, our friends, our families, vegetarianism, veganism, married, divorced, single, with kids, without kids...and the list is endless, and all that this does is, "I am this, and you are that, and thus we shall judge, quarrel, insult, point fingers and blame each other ad infinitum".

The book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion speaks of "foolish consistency" which is tied into identification. When someone has taken a stance on something, if they are identified with the stance they've taken, their sense of identity is linked to that stance, and they will stick to that no matter what evidence or more sensible counter arguments they are presented with. Our society punishes inconsistency, you can see it with politicians who change their position on something, they are called unreliable and untrustworthy, whereas changing position to a healthier position is a good thing, and necessary for evolution, growth and progress.