Terry joins Amiel Handelsman for “The Amiel Show” a podcast dedicated to increasing the quality of leadership in our complex world, to discuss the outcome and aftermath of the presidential election.
In Terry’s words:
Last month I shared a blog post that I’d written in response to the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election. I suggested that even though many of us, including myself, feel shattered by the election of Donald Trump, it is important to recognize that it presents an important test and opportunity in the “school of life.”
I’m continuing that exploration here, and sharing a podcast I recorded with Amiel Handelsman on the “light-hearted sobriety” that is needed to answer the call to greater civic engagement in the wake of the election. Things are far too serious to lose our sense of humor. Or to forget how blessed we are to have been gifted with even a few years of conscious embodied existence.
In this podcast you’ll hear me recommend that we take the election of Donald Trump personally — as a call for social engagement, which is an essential dimension of practice. And that requires a whole-hearted, honest self-appraisal that recognizes our blind spots — our privilege, our softness, our hypocrisy, our sense of entitlement. Here is a doorway to a necessary and transformative growth opportunity.
You’ll also hear me discuss becoming willing to take “the good medicine” of this disruptive outcome, which is a process in itself. If we go deep enough—and stay superficial enough to stay focused on the objective world, we might find our way to a new kind of effective “civic practice.” A part of it opens a door to a new kind of discourse, where we listen to one another and let ourselves be affected by differing perspectives and value systems.
Out of this, we can, and we will evolve, even through traumas and periods of decline and disruption, toward a much more coherent social whole.
To our evolution,
Terry
You can also check out Amiel’s blog post here.
Crisis, Healing and Civic Engagement after the Trump Election
The elitism that Terry Patten describes is exactly what TRUMP is and represents. He is the epitome of being concerned only for himself and his business ventures.
Sobriety and Lessons Learned
The wake up call message was described well by Terry to help us gravitate more towards answers that we don’t always expect such as the good that might come from Trump being president of the USA. If we can be led towards enough openness to change that the universe will grant us our lessons learned by asking then we truly might be able to advert a natural catastrophe that would be the ultimate in learning a lesson the hard way.
We truly are all in this together, and any opportunity any of us has to evolve into a sober, but light-hearted human should be taken to further the developmental aspects of our species. I for one am ready to step up to the plate and prove my love for dear, sweet Mother Earth! Will you join me?
actions
There are a few thoughts have arisen since the election. One is that no one has take tne time to grasp that change doesn’t come from laws but understanding and insight. The Civil war was waged with good reason but the aftermath was without any empathy for those who were confederates but not the wealthy. I and many risked our lives in the 60’s to right wrongs but never understood the sense on loss many Southern whites felt, nor should it have been expected for us civil rights workers. Being on the wrong side of progress doesn’t mean others do not feel confused and disenfranchised. We need to offer understanding to all of those who have never understood why the lifestyles they were accustomed to was taken from them.
It is also obvious that political people do not speak to any of us as adults. The effort to face realities together is passed over in favor or offering enemies or source to blame for what we feel is missing or wrong- NAFTA, TTP, Wall Street, Immigrants and we are left as expectant children who expect politicians to make our lives better through policy – free college, tax cuts, etc. Except for Jerry Brown telling us Californians we needed to decide if we wanted things to get better we might need to pay more taxes, we haven’t had a politician speak to us with facts and offer collective pragmatic solutions. This might be a 1st step in moving forward on the political level. No more general solutions- green jobs, TTP- all of this was nonsense for anyone doing simple math and reading facts.
Lastly, it is indeed possible for us to pool resources to build the world we want. All this runs on our effort. We collectively hold over 25 trillion dollars in the stock market through our 401k’s and IRA’s. We can legally invest in each other. We can finance each others solar panels, lend moneys through “peer to peer” lending, and put funds in credit unions to support our own services like cell towers, cable tv, etc . I suggest reading a blog at: globalsolarproject.net
Yes!
Listening to this will be a gift to myself. I am empowered even by the description, especially, “Things are far too serious to lose our sense of humor.”
In my neighborhood outside DC, inauguration planners tried to book a dance hall for a “Deplorables Ball.” They were turned away, resulting in death threats. A sense of humor could have built bridges instead. I will look for opportunities to do so here.
Teri
Would a larger perspective matter ?
That we have a strong man as our leader has 3,000 years of precedence. The Europeans that settled here come from a
long history of taking what they wanted from their neighbors by force. When they landed here force was the method of
taking resources and land from the Native Amaricans. Trump used the weak Republican Party to lie his way into the
White House and knows about the evil empire that killed Kennedy, blew up buildings on 9/11, lied about WMD’S, took
flight 370 at Diego Garcia and wanted to use the Middle East to justify a nuclear war. Putin knows also, which makes
him Trumps kissing cousin.
The main work is keeping Trumpdedump on a short leash (eight years goes fast), and the time to cry is over
Safe enclosed world!
There is something that could be addressed here, which pertains to the ‘shock’ at finding that this ‘safe enclosed world’ didn’t actually exist. These teachers, spiritual leaders, who feel that they have something to offer to help our confusion, were for the most part engaging with those who agree with them, mixing with others who share their beliefs and convictions. It’s natural enough to do that, specially if you are trying to make a living from sharing these beliefs and convictions, which is the position of many teachers like you Terry. So how do we break out of this prison which we have built for ourselves, this safe enclosed world? I don’t have an answer, but something in us has to recognise that that will be our default position, and that it will take an effort to get out of our comfort zone. We need to cultivate a fundamental desire to include everyone, even at the expense of making ourselves special, which we depend on to make a living. It is really seeing the paradox of these two positions, which you could say is the paradox of capitalism.
Safe Enclosed World
Well said Anna! The planet is going to be leaving it’s own comfort zone soon enough so we had better get used to it. Let’s all decide to take the initiative and deliberately get out of our own and see what we can make happen in the world. Things are definitely getting shaken up as they need to be!