 6 Apr 2004 @ 19:30, by Alana Tobin
The Crossroads by Chuck Spezzano
Psychology of Vision Website
The United States is at a crossroads. The world is at a crossroads. You and I are at a crossroads. It is important to recognize where we are and what is possible. At a crossroads one of the paths is familiar. It is the way that we’ve always gone. If we just keep pressing on, this path leads us to sameness, deadness and feeling stuck. We either overwork or, in some cases, hardly work. There is a depression that dogs our footsteps if we slow down the ever maddening pace. In this place we cannot go much farther in the same old way. It is a dead end. So we return to the crossroads. On the other path there is a new step – a transcendent step that turns us in a direction of partnership rather than just winning alone.
Four years ago the Republican leadership while following the same old path, attempted to pull us back from the crossroads. They felt that 9/11 precipitated us into war. While Bush had promised in his campaign speeches, to bring the nation together, bridging the differences between Republican and Democrat, he not only regressed us into greater bi-partisan conflict but set us at odds with all but a few of our allies by leading us into war. This was a regression out of Dead Zone where we could have made a jump to partnership. We left the crossroads and went back into the Control and Power Struggle Stage. What could have been a leap forward became a regression. Between the Control Stage and Dead Zone there are stages of consciousness that every country, company, couple and individual must progress through. This cost us billions of dollars in an unneeded war and took our eyes off the ball in dealing with terrorism. At this stage there are shadow figures to deal with. Instead of dealing with them we fell for the trap of fighting them. Hence the attack on Saddam Hussein and Iraq. We beat our chests yelling insults, venting all of our fear and fury that remained from 9/11 trying to prove we were still dominant, still #1. As if the best team in the league ganging up on the worst team ever meant anything. We acted out of fear. We regressed. We missed an opportunity. We backed away from the crossroads. Now we are back at the crossroads. How will we act? What will we choose? We cannot avoid fear, we must face and transcend it. There can be fear stepping in a new direction but it is ultimately what saves us. Arriving at a new stage of life after having let go of the fear we wonder how we could ever have been afraid of it. Life will change in the new stage and we will be glad for it. The only way we can do this is through partnership: The Republicans and Democrats, the U.S. and the rest of the world, Muslim and non-Muslim nations.
In this developmental stage of consciousness between Power Struggle and Dead Zone, if an individual or country does not integrate shadows, it will bring that individual or country to a standstill. Even if he is doing all the right things and working hard, it is not enough to go forward. It is like reaching an unbreakable glass wall. Without awareness it becomes doubly hard to win our way out of this difficult stage. The only way to go beyond it, takes significant change – a change of direction. If you keep going in the same direction you come to a dead-end either as an individual or as country.
Fear dictates sameness, a return to routine or a regression. Awareness calls for a significant step forward into a new way, one which naturally generates a new flow. When there is fear at the root, you start living by form instead of the spirit. This is the inauthenticity of political correctness America is so busy being proud of its pioneer roots that it’s stopped being a pioneer. The Republicans that believe the American pioneer spirit will come from building an American Empire are sadly out of step with the times. The pioneering that is to occur now is meant to be a change of consciousness that will reflect new levels of partnership and empowerment worldwide. That is what occurs after the Dead Zone stage if there is success. This alone shows the United States’ regression and move to war under the Republicans as a failure in leadership. It is the same thing a couple does when they fail to make the leap to partnership in the Dead Zone; they regress into fighting to try to bring some aliveness back to the relationship. They are frightened to face the deadness and move through into partnership.
Partnership is the next stage. We must heal the bi-partisanship that exists in the U.S. We will never face the real issues that are before us in the world.
We must realize that complacency at this stage, feeds the deadness of feeling that is presently endemic. On the other hand partnership, awareness and the flow forward created by the willingness to have a better way creates the feeling that life is worth living. To take the other fork and get out of the Dead Zone we must change the goal from having the most alone to succeeding together. This goal is necessary for the world to join toward a common goal and make a significant step forward. Let us take the step toward partnership personally while we are in this crossroads. Then, let us help our leaders and countries to do it. Let us partner with everyone in the world. If we partner with our brothers and sisters, we’ll partner with heaven to the same extent and there will be greater success for everyone.
Chuck Spezzano
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