by Roz Omid
There are three images in my mind as I write this article. The first one is the U.S. military controlling Iraq, the second one is the voices to bring change to the Iranian government and the third image is my answer to heal these wounds: small communities.
What the United States is doing through it's newly appointed "occupation minister" in Iraq, is forcing democracy. What an amazing example of contradiction. The U. S. is forcing the people of Iraq to shift, not only the way of their thinking but also their way of being, from dictatorship to democracy. They are forced to shift from a clear and simple but harsh and dehumanizing way of life, dictatorship, to a potentially more harmonious but more complicated and vague concept called democracy. A type of democracy imported from a country where its ruler -George W. Bush- can be elected not by majority of votes but because his brother was the governor of the state that helped him win the election and his father appointed supreme court justices who voted in favor of the son.
What some of the people in Iran and the immigrated Iranians like myself, living in the "free world” are doing is trying to create a shift in the consciousness of not only ourselves but also in the collective consciousness. All in the desire to bring a more harmonious way of life. And of course there is a range of ideas from other Iranians living inside and outside Iran: ideas which include homegrown democracy to export/import business of a democratic system from the West.
Democracy is not our salvation. However, it has been a step in our evolutionary process. What needs to happen is gradual decentralization in order to create a better life and a better planet to live on. Taking the power back from the centralized government leaders, restructuring the government so the high powered position are eliminated, and letting small communities to have their power back to use the way they choose to, is the way back to paradise that we deserve to live in.
We, humanity, left that paradise when we adapted the notion of command and obedience somewhere along our natural evolution. The only place that the notion of domination and obedience or hierarchy of power exists is in the human psyche. When we believe in hierarchy then our interaction with each other and our natural environment is based on either controlling others or is controlled.
There are groups of people who make decisions based on consensus: meaning everyone comes to an agreement before a group decision is made. It is a challenging task and at the beginning it may take longer to make decisions. Just as any kind of withdrawal it's difficult but many of us believe that we need to take that direction.
We are so used to this system where the boss, the manager, or the top man/woman makes the final decision or the majority wins that we think it's the only way. Not only we go along with the system of hierarchy but also it has become so ingrained in us that we have become addicted to it. Some people have become aware of this addiction and are in recovery such as the people who use consensus decision making -at least in one aspect of their lives.
The system of command and obedience is destroying us and the life around us. I surrender to the fact that I am stuck in it and I am addicted to it. I also ask a greater power than my ego and my mind to help me live more harmoniously with others and within my environment.
At this stage of natural evolution we need to become active in adopting a consciousness that is clear about where we want to get to. There is no reason that we can't live in clean cities where we can enjoy wealth of arts, music, literature, etc. Don't we have the technology to have clean transportation? We do! But our consciousness is stuck in believing that this is the best we can have at the moment.
Garden of Eden is a metaphysical as well as a physical place to be at. It is a physical place where fresh, clean, healthy food is available in bounty, where people can live enriched lives in harmony within their ecology. It is also a metaphysical place. Garden of Eden is also a place in ones consciousness where the person is content with what life is offering to him or her in each and every moment.
Finding the way to a better government in Iran or anywhere else in the world, including North America, is a task that takes place in the here and now. Another words; what can I do in this moment to be able to live in paradise? And I mean paradise not heaven. Sometimes I have the perception that I know, other times I don't know and feel stuck and there are times that I am simply accepting and grateful for what I have available to me. What I have available to me at the moment is communicating via the Internet.
Having a continuous dialog is the most important element in just about any relation. The understanding that I would like to bring in through my communication is this; we need not to believe that hierarchy of power is the only way to have a governing system. I would like to continuously explore ways to replace the system of command and obedience to a system of consensus decision-making. That is a system, which by its nature, cannot be forced to anyone or any group.
Life is made of paradoxes that we need to become aware of, accept, and learn our way to move with and through them. There is no absolute way of doing something and yet there is. For example if a bridge is to be built across a river we need the absolute measurements to build a solid bridge so a truck can safely cross over it to carry food and goods. But if the goal is to provide food and goods for that other side of the river building the bridge is not the absolute solution, as the modern man tends to believe so. There are many ways of feeding the people on the other side of the river, including helping them to grow food and make goods for themselves.
If the mind is used to think in terms of absolute and quick ways of fixing problems and is addicted to use domination and obedience as the model to fix problems, then we are bound to control nature and serve the false master. I am referring to the man -the master- at the top of the pyramid or top of the game of accumulation of capital and the hierarchy of power.
Small communities can have a circle instead of pyramid or triangle for its model. A circle or a sphere that has movement in it and it's own innate and organic pattern governing that movement. The movement could be the flow of interaction between its members and with its natural environment.
There is more to share about how community building. Especially small physical communities can help us create more sane governing systems. I will continue to write about it with the grace of the beloved. But for now going back to the image of U.S. governing Iraq I have this to say: we may think we know the way to create a better government and we have the right to voice that opinion. At the same time we need to practice the fine art of walking the thin line between believing what is right and being too ridged.
On the other side of the spectrum we need to practice the fine art of walking the line between being open to hear and consider multiple of possibilities and being too flexible. I was absolutely clear that U.S. ought not to wage war against Iraq. Using my previous example and metaphorically speaking, that was not a bridge that we needed to build. "War is not good for children and other living things." But now that the war has taken place and Sadam's dictatorship is toppled the U.S. doesn't believe that it has much of a choice other than to force democracy. What about the neighboring countries? Could they have some wisdom to offer in this situation?
The mind is limited in its capacity to understand and experience the Divine Presence and how it works through us. Living a more harmonious and balanced life will not happen because a few people have figured out the best system to govern people and the "natural resources". Without those few people who come up with a better system of government we cannot move towards a more harmonious and balanced life. It is up to us all individuals to voice of openions and make a stand in what we believe in.
