The Promised Land Project: On the Subject of Politics and Religion

Turning Vision into Action....at least hypothetically

Strike up the music of the band
We're blazing a trail for the promised land
Heaven on earth is within you.

Through the writing of stories, poetry, essays, and a novel, I’ve creatively contended with the consumer culture and the problem of the ideal in the modern era. This preoccupation in time would lead to a vision of cultural transformation and where I believe our democratic society needs to go to truly progress beyond the modern era. Conceding my limited credibility, this blog provides a synthesis of recognized visionaries, poets, and writers with the objective of making a credible argument. Ultimately, it is a certain feeling the project strives to inspire and sustain on a certain level, making more vital use of poetry and the arts; consequently whether one agrees or not is less important than whether one senses it and feels it over time.

Friday, June 18, 2010

On the Subject of Politics and Religion

“The business of a seer is to see; and if he involves himself in the kind of God-eclipsing activities which make seeing impossible, he betrays the trust which his fellows have tacitly placed in him.” -- Aldous Huxley, Grey Eminence

If in truth I do have a gift for vision, the above quote strikes me as good advice. What I mean by a gift of vision is one who's connected the dots in such a way -- mystically inspired, as I make sense of it -- as to provide a perspective that can shed light as to where we need to go as a society to truly progress in the course of human evolution. But like anyone, I have my opinions and how well informed they are or not, is a matter of degrees.

The Promised Land Project strives to transcend both politics and religion. Politics is the easier of the two to stay out of the conversation because it strives towards top down change. Whether through the executive, legislative, or judicial branch, it’s all about the laying down of the law through enforcing, legislating, or interpreting it. The project strives toward bottom up change to help engender the political will among our elected leaders to transcend narrow interests and act on behalf of the greater good.

On the subject of religion, however, I’m afraid I'm more likely to get dragged into the conversation because I’m no secular progressive but what you might call a prophetic progressive. But through exploring the notions of service, humility, and healthy skepticism, I could maybe negotiate the issue well enough.

We all have an idea of the world but it's always limited; no one sees the world in its entirety. People often argue opinions because there ideas of the world are inextricably tied to their sense of self and are searching for validity to their lives. And your guide is no exception. The genius of Whitman, and part of the reason we started out on the Whitman trail, is his disposition toward validation.