enjoying the illusion of politics...

lately, I'm struck by the 'play' every time I engage with the political landscape in Washington, DC these days -- (I follow the news and watch carefully what's going on, from a lot of angles especially foreign policy) -- I mean, "all the world's a stage and the men and women but players on it," as Shakespeare said.

(and many people know Shakespeare's alter identity as a divine saint....yes? no?)

I realize more and more that my own role in this world, as a citizen of the planet and as an American by birth (in this lifetime), is to go deeper and deeper into my own spiritual life and awareness and understanding of what makes this whole wacky creation tick -- so that I can see beyond the day-to-day illusion of politics, policy, corruption, hierarchy, limelight, graft and the personalities of leaders and elected representatives who're all taking part in the play and executing their roles admirably.

I keep reminding myself that part of the nature of the Divine is its love of its own Illusion, what they like to call Maya in Sanskrit. -- it is simply playing a million interesting roles through a million interesting lives, simultaneously and for Its own enjoyment. we think it's all so so so serious.... and it's definitely absorbing.... but the stories we hear every day in the news aren't particularly real, they're (viewed from the eyes of the Infinite) just stories.

so -- from my perspective, I keep reining my outrage and righteous indignant reactions back, soberly telling myself again and again that these are actors, playing their divinely-scripted roles, and playing them beautifully.

someone once asked a prominent Indian saint, a real yogi, about Hitler and the amount of evil he'd brought into the world. the saint smiled for a moment and replied, "well, yes, he played his role well." in other words, the creation and the world and the cosmic had a lot of concurrent and simultaneous reasons of Its own for letting such a monster assume so much power and cause so much misery and suffering, on the surface level.

I think once you know, really know, what's at the bottom of the mechanisms of this play, ie, who's writing the script and why, who's directing the show, who's really playing the different characters, what their karmas are, etc., then it doesn't affect you the same way as it used to AND you can be of enormous, and lasting help, to other people still suffering in the throes of trying to understand it all and somehow, valiantly, fix what appears to be broken.