Politics can be about many things: carrying out the will of the people, reallocating a nation's wealth, the wielding of human power. It can be about personalities, ideas, communication, ideologies, notions, theories. It's a subject, not surprisingly, of consuming fascination for many. Politics and its elements are of concern, also, to spiritual thinkers, especially to the metaphysician looking beyond the material and mortally personal to the spiritual and the divine in order to help his community, nation, and world at large.
Political activity, whether for good or ill, starts with us, the individual. We "play politics" in our own thought— maybe much more than we realize. Are any of us quite guiltless of mentally manipulating personal power and mentally adjusting people and their placement? Are any of us entirely innocent, always, of little Machiavellian schemes on the school board, in the family, or on the church committee? Probably we all have daydreamed about being in control of affairs here or there.
Most of this is perhaps of little consequence. These are tendencies built into unredeemed human nature. But to play a progressive, constructive, healing role as citizens, we must watch the political stage of our own thought carefully. The manipulation of human emotions and thought is as outside the borders of authentic Christian Science as is manipulation of the body.
Modern communications have the potential—and the actuality, in many cases—of enormous good. But they are open to abuse as well as constructive use. "The media . . . are becoming a major power center," it has been noted, "swaying their vast audience with words and ideas in the presentation of news, opinion, advertising, documentaries and entertainment—all of which profoundly affect customers' buying and political attitudes." U.S. News & World Report, February 25, 1980; Television is perhaps the most potent of the media. We must be careful not to let it make our final political judgments and entirely shape our views. The "influence" we ought to be open to is the Christ, the intelligence and love of Soul, God, active in human affairs.
When Samuel had to select one individual from a group, the Bible represents God as advising Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Sam. 16:7; TV by its very nature looks on the outward appearance. We can be tempted merely to do the same. As active Christian metaphysicians, though, we have to look on the heart. How can we? Through exercising spiritual perception. This is not an activity called out only at election times. We must bring this unique Christly faculty to bear on everything, regularly, so we become truly practiced in doing it.
Spiritual discernment informs us that divine power is the only power. A shrewd and maybe cynical observer of the human scene said, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Divine power is absolute. But it is certainly not corruptive. And here is where we can play a role in political life. We can watch the stage of our own mind carefully, watch that we are truly subordinating mortal will, seeing that self-centered personal will is not even lurking in the wings.
The divine will is the one will, universally. Each time we affirm this, each time we put down an inclination to shuffle others around simply for our own well-being and in disregard of theirs—acknowledging that divine government is operating, and trusting it—then we are "playing politics" in a way that truly helps. Attributing power to God, where it always belongs, lowers the political temperature in home or office. It will help keep political campaigns below fever pitch, and defuse personal invective, which is never useful but confusing and destructive.
Our role in political life, as in life in general, is to accept the oneness of God and to live lives that are integrated with the common good, contributive rather than self-absorbed. Because of its fundamental, provable truth, and its continuing timeliness, this passage by Mary Baker Eddy is familiar to Christian Scientists: "One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself;' annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,—whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed." Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 340; Here is a comprehensive definition of mankind's enormous possibilities when thought is rightly based.
Who must be accepting one God? We must, individually. Accepting God as Truth, we approach problems from the starting point of divine Truth, not from the error of power in matter. And so doing we arrive at solutions.
Correct self-identification is important at election time, as it always is. What views do candidates have of themselves? Do they see themselves as nation-servers or as self-seekers? How do voters see themselves? As self-interested mortals, overanxious about the outcome of an election and concerned only for what it will mean in their personal affairs? We contribute to the purification of the way we all view ourselves when we know this truth and live it: Man is Life's intelligent idea, and the real man is not capable of originating thought.
God alone is all true consciousness. Therefore man is not capable of originating wrong thought. He is incapable of misconceiving himself as a fallible mortal; or as a mortal at all.
We shouldn't be thinking or saying, if it implies neglecting the arguments of mortal thought, "I try to keep my thought above things like personality clashes, the telling of half-truths, the wheeling and dealing, the tempting of voters with false promises. They're not real." If the politicking has that darker side, we much need to engage "things like that"—with the Truth that exposes error, with the Principle that corrects, and the Love that heals. Then we'll be bringing to bear on politics the divine influence, the Christ.
"A knowledge of the Science of being," Mrs. Eddy assures us, "develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity." ibid., p. 128. Accepting our access to "higher realms" enables us to play a role in political life, a role which can be active for good right around the table of our affairs, private and national.
