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Do you wake up in the morning with a sense of gratitude for the gift that life is?
Do you look at others with understanding, compassion, and love, no matter how they are behaving?
Are you present to your own wholeness, strengths, perfection, inner peace and ability to love?
If the answer to any of these questions is "no," then it may be time for a Regime Change!
What, you may ask, does "regime change" have to do with my inner state of being?
For months, we have been hearing the term, "regime change" on television, radio and in newspapers. President Bush and other members of his administration have touted "regime change" as the answer to what is needed in Iraq in order to guarantee our freedom and peace of mind back here in the U.S., help insure the end of terrorist threats worldwide, allow for the finding and elimination of "weapons of mass destruction" (still to be located as of this writing), and bring about freedom for the Iraqi people.
Ironically, given the amount of negative comments generated recently in the U.S. about France because their government didn't do what our government wanted them to do --- "We'll show them! We'll turn French fries into "freedom fries!"--- it is interesting that the first word in our government's oft-repeated phrase, "regime change," is a French word. According to Webster's Dictionary, "regime" means (a) a political system, (b) a form or manner of government or rule, (c) a social system or order."
Democratic Senator John Kerry raised a few outcries (mostly among Republicans) a couple of weeks ago, when he suggested that a "regime change" in Iraq should be followed by a "regime change" in Washington (since Kerry is currently in the running to be the next Democratic Party Presidential nominee, this logic is not too difficult to fathom). Senator Kerry was probably stretching the word's meaning for dramatic effect, since a change in the administration of the Federal Government is still supposed to take place within the current political system of our Republic.
If we look at history over the past 150 years, we can see numerous examples of massive "regime changes," two of them occurring within what is now Russia within the 20th Century alone. One was bloody, the other peaceful. In 1917, the Bolsheviks under Lenin promised that a "regime change" would produce true freedom and "power and equality for the people" once they dumped the Czar and installed the Communist Party. If you don't recall how that promise turned out, skip the history books, and read George Orwell's classic fable, "Animal Farm."
In 1991, we witnessed a remarkable "regime change" with the dissolution of the communist regime in what had been the former Soviet Union.
Do you remember what was said at the time? We were told that this "regime change" in Russia would result in, among other things, a "New World Order," and "the end of history." It was time to rejoice in the vanquishing of the Evil Empire, and the victory of Freedom around the world.
Well, we have witnessed "regime change" all over the world over the past few decades. Do you feel more secure now than you did at the time of the "Cold War"? Do you feel more at peace now that the latest "Axis of Evil" has been identified to replace the "Evil Empire"? Does the news of the world presented to you each day by the media seem more or less threatening than ten years ago? Does the news of home-grown corporate con games by the likes of Enron, Anderson, and Tyco, economic downturn, suicide/homicide bombers, AIDS, and now, SARS, leave you in a state that is less than tranquil?
Can you find the same dynamics occurring not only between countries, but also in the workplace, and within your own family? Even when things are going relatively smoothly on the outside, are you at war with yourself within?
Is it possible that there has simply been a change of characters in the play called "Life," but the basic plotline has remained the same?
There is an old French saying, "The more things change, the more they remain the same." What makes that seem so? Even here in the United States, where we live within a system founded on the principles of a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," how many American citizens find themselves, as Henry David Thoreau observed, living "lives of quiet desperation"?
How many of us, surrounded by the symbols of abundance, and the opportunities for "the pursuit of happiness," find ourselves often acting from fear---be it fear of the future, fear of not having enough, fear of losing what we've got, fear of losing control, fear of not being loved or approved of, or fear of the unknown?
What allows us to release this recurring cycle of fear, and allow us to ongoingly create the experience of inner peace, joy, and freedom?
The solution is, as I said at the beginning, "regime change."
When we investigate, we realize that what is being referred to with the word, "regime," is the answer to the question: "Who or what is in charge here?"
REAL regime change always comes from within. Outer regime change is simply a mirror of the inner regime that is in charge of our lives. The way we are being within is projected into the outer world.
In Core Wisdom, we call this inner way of being our Life Principle. It gives us our view of others, the world, and ourselves. For instance, if we believe that we are disconnected and separate from others, that is the system that rules us, and the true nature of our limitless, loving, connection with all that is falls asleep. In that condition that the mystics call "waking sleep," if we call for peace in the world, while inwardly we are experiencing rage, anger and hatred toward "others," we merely perpetuate the very thing we are protesting against.
What happens if you stop focusing on the outer world for the answers, and ask the question, "Who or what is in charge of my inner state of Being?" Ask that question with the intention to illuminate the inner social system that is ruling and governing your life. Then be silent and wait; it will lead you to the primary question at the base of all spiritual and wisdom traditions, "Who or what am I?"
The word "regime" is neutral, but our desire to promote either a "regime change" or for defend "regime continuity" is not.
When the inner regime ruling over us is our true Self, then we see the Divine in everyone and everything. Compassion, Love, and a sense of connection with all humanity are present in our speaking and in our actions. Then our inner regime naturally includes an inclusive vision for humanity expressed in such statements as we find in the Declaration of Independence and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.
Even the most enlightened design for our social and government systems of rule, (and the United States Constitution has been an example of a remarkably workable design) can be derailed from its true intention and destination if the inner regime that shapes our lives is not our true Self, but a "pretender to the throne", a False Self.
With the False Self or ego in charge of the inner regime, what takes precedent is our subconscious, conditioned urge for survival. These urges are driven by fear, and a sense of separation and "otherness" from the rest of humanity. The inner regime of the False Self divides the world into dualities of "us" and "them," "good" and "evil," "right" and "wrong." It judges everything and everybody, finding the "blame game" a natural expression of itself, while at the same time becoming a master of self-justification
Within the world of duality, the urge for survival and security expresses itself as an unquenchable desire for personal, financial or political power and control. Often, this may be disguised in words such as "peace," "freedom," and "love," words that are contrary to the False Self's true intention. History has demonstrated that those who experience anger, fear, separation, disdain and hate for others, and yearn for power, control, and security for their beliefs at all costs, have learned to be facile in the use of words that they have no intention to honor. They are willing to say that which they know will give them the power and control that they seek. In this worldview, lip service is sufficient, as "the end justifies the means." Give those you wish to manipulate the words they yearn for, tell them what they want to hear, and also, tell them what to fear.
This is the opposite of the place our Founding Fathers came from when they stated clearly in the Declaration of Independence that one of the foundations for the ongoing support and fulfillment of the Declaration in people's lives was "our sacred honor."
In the history of our own country, we have seen courageous, selfless actions taken for the support and defense of the principles of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," all around the globe. The principles on which the United States was founded have been a beacon of light and hope to millions around the world. But we have also had times in our history when we have strayed from this path, when we have abandoned being true to our founding principles for personal, corporate or group gain. If we are serious about honoring the founding principles of this country in our daily lives, they must be true to them, and have them be an integral part of our inner regime ---part of our answer to the question," Who or what is in charge here?"
When an inner regime change is recognized as needed (it requires only that the true Self awaken from its sleep for an instant), it begins a transformative revolution to remove the "pretender," and free the true Self to be itself. Such a time seems be taking place for millions of people on our planet right now.
For thousands of years, human beings of wisdom have been urging us to cause an inner "regime change," to recover and live from our true Oneness, our Divine nature, as creative Beings.
Look within and ask yourself whether fear and the need for approval, security and control are still the dominating urges in your life, or have you successfully begun to replace them with Love, Compassion, Understanding, and what Buddhists call, "right action"?
Do we need an inner "regime change" to manifest freedom, liberty, happiness, and fulfillment in our outer lives?
Yes, we do ---as individuals, families, communities, nations and the world.
Only then will we experience the freedom, joy, connection, and love of our true nature being mirrored in the outer world.
-- Hal Isen
From Core Wisdom On-Line Number 28 - Apr. 17, 2003
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