Beyond The Politics Of Duality

Let us not be under any illusion the radical right (I am talking extremist right-wing groups that promote all sorts of instinctual politics) is very much alive and kicking. They represent the unadulterated animalistic instincts of people. They hate the left because they consider it intellectual, ideological, and incompatible with “human nature”. However, their form of love is very narrow and focused on the body or, at most, a close-knit tribe. They cling to dualistic religion for their spiritual justification or a new age version of this. The left promotes a universal form of secular human love, which is their weakness. They have reacted to the instinctual, sometimes hate-ridden politics of the right and their associated organised religion.   Their ethics are more based on a love of humanity and nature. This is a safe place because it is material and not spiritual. By and large, they mistake equating spirituality with powerful patriarchal religion and echo the Marxian critique that it is opium for the masses. However, as Max Weber pointed out, what they end up with is simply a form of worldly secular Christianity. In place of god is an ethical ideology that inevitably rests on an assortment of laws, which extremist libertarians baulk against so much.

Neither extreme right nor left is correct, I contend. One route to a more balanced and productive middle way is the understanding and more important experience we have of our own consciousness. The new politics is neither left nor right – it doesn’t rely on organised religion but on authentic individual experience. It is universal and allows for a rising above instinct and emotionality. It facilitates critical thinking as it reduced the emotional pressure in the mind. It understands the unitary nature of existence and does not promote the psychology and sociology of separation. It is individually liberating and socially compassionate, and environmentally respectful. It is not extreme ever. It is led by people who are proven to be able to rise above private interests as much as this is possible. The human experience is an experience of consciousness. Until this is recognised, we will continue to make the fundamental political error of falling into left and right dualistic politics. A path forward out of this is to return to our innately non-dualistic nature of awareness and recognise that we have no evidence that the self we experience is separate. As this recognition is translated into the feeling of Universal love, we will see the shift we all wish for in secular affairs.