Politics: Palliative Care for a Curable Disease?

A provocative dive into the body politic in search of meaningful change and results, requiring the active participation of us all

—

How many politicians do you know who are actively committed to their own personal growth? How many do yoga, meditate or invest in healthy behavioural change? How many have resolved their own dysfunction, limiting beliefs, insecurities, unmet needs, poor boundaries and personal conflicts? Precious few, would probably be the answer. Yet politicians are tasked with resolving the crises that result from all of those issues… without addressing a single one of them.

They grapple with the symptoms of our collective dysfunction — not the root cause — which is why they so seldom fix things.

It’s not that there are no good politicians left or that none of them wish to truly change things for the better. The problem is the negative programming that has conditioned us to think and act in certain limiting, self-destructive ways, regardless of what others might try to do to change things. For as long as we fail to address this fundamental driver of human dysfunction — and of every problem on the planet — politics will never work.

Via religion, schooling and parenting, most of us are taught that we are unworthy, unacceptable or just plain not good enough. Our distorted self-image and low self-worth breed deference to others, a lack of faith in self, a failure to take personal responsibility for our lives and, consequently, a tendency to blame the authorities for not fixing things for us. Profoundly disempowered, we are unaware that our subconscious self-rejection creates havoc in our lives, producing human dramas that keep us focused on the external symptoms of our dysfunction rather than its internal drivers.  

Because of this programming (as deeply rooted in themselves as in the general population), politicians face an impossible task: solving our problems for us.

While ostensibly addressing key issues, they instead become the scapegoats for our dysfunction, the indicators of our subservience and the enablers of our crippling co-dependence. They are excellent mirrors of what is not working, but they are profoundly misguided in their mission. 

Are you leading your own life?

The true purpose of any political leader is to inspire us to become leaders in our own lives, since we are the only ones with direct control over our circumstances. 

Unless leaders fulfill that role, they merely serve as figureheads for our collective failure to understand how life really works. They may introduce new policies, change some laws or promote certain initiatives, but unless they address the human dysfunction that drives every single problem on the planet, they can only provide political palliative care. And, since most politicians are so ensnared by their own dysfunctional psyche, they can hardly even do that.

How can a politician solve these problems?

How can a president resolve unemployment when the subconscious beliefs and self-worth of individuals determine what they create and attract in life? 

How can a leader build a thriving economy if the people have a poverty mentality or do not believe in their right or ability to prosper? 

How can an elected official create meaningful lasting change if the people don’t believe in their own ability to make a difference… and don’t even try? 

How can a politician create unity when mass programming promotes divisiveness, self-rejection and intolerance? 

How can any leader instill a sense of ownership and pride when its people have surrendered responsibility for almost every aspect of their lives, blaming governments for their problems and expecting someone else to fix them?

Every leader is a reflection of its people — how empowered or conscious they are and to what degree they have surrendered their personal autonomy in favor of being led, healed, fixed or bailed out. 

Every president reflects what is missing in the psyche and self-worth of the people. A president’s failure to fix things reflects the people’s failure to take charge of their own lives. Sickness and disease reflect individuals’ failure to adjust their lifestyle or embrace their own healing powers. 

Why politicians can never win

Politics usually addresses symptoms, which is why it never ultimately changes anything. Instead of holding political leaders responsible for the state of things, we the people must be accountable for our own lives — which, in turn, affects the economy and the prevailing mindset and direction of a nation.

Whatever is currently wrong with our world went wrong in our minds long before we ever voted. Debt, disease, depression, crime, addiction, wars and poverty are the glaring symptoms of a race that has failed to fully understand or empower itself. We are missing a crucial piece of the human puzzle and we are ‘driving blind’ through life, failing to master our relationships, emotions, economies or minds. 

Globally, we are in a state of ongoing crisis and collective post-traumatic stress disorder, with no real game plan and no framework for masterful living. We grapple with the symptoms of dysfunction without understanding the underlying cause. 

Weapons of mass seduction

We are putty in the hands of political players… and we have been played. Lured by technologies that give the illusion of freedom, we have been seduced into subservience and the surrender of our personal data. Due to our unresolved dysfunction and unmet emotional needs, we are addicted to invasive, pervasive, harmful technologies that have transformed us into human databases. Because we have failed to recognize and resolve our disempowerment, technological evolution has superseded human evolution, hurtling ahead with our tacit consent, leveraging our co-dependence, ruling by default, and leaving our humanity in the dust. 

In politics, issues are mostly addressed in isolation, with no understanding or consideration of the big picture or the underlying dynamics. As with conventional medicine, it is a symptomatic approach that never gets to the core of the issue. That would involve examining how the human psyche and our electromagnetism affect our world — not how particular policies work. Policies don’t change people, although they may provide opportunities. Only people can change themselves and thereby change everything else.

To create balance and harmony, we must understand how human dysfunction creates the scenarios we call life.

Only when leaders address that dysfunction and inspire individuals to take responsibility for their own lives will things change in a meaningful way. Failing that, we go round and round. New presidential players, same old pajamas (and some truly appalling hairdos). 

Disease is exploding out of control, our environment is polluted, suicide is on the rise, gadgets are running our lives, we’ve sold our souls (and all our personal data) to commercial interests, technology has hijacked our humanity… and no leader will ever resolve these issues unless he/she addresses human dysfunction (starting with his/her own). Addressing climate change, adopting sustainability policies, levying carbon taxes — none of these things will change us, the perpetrators of the damage that prompts such inherently futile efforts. 

Who is running the party?

Ultimately, the collective loss of personal autonomy creates political anarchy, which is what we are currently witnessing in the U.S. and elsewhere, with the collapse of solid values, morality, integrity, honesty, compassion and basic human decency. 

In this supposedly free world, how many people are truly free? How many are free of debt, disease, stress, conflict, prejudice, emotional issues, stigma or pain? For as long as the sources of our dysfunction remain unaddressed — and embodied by our leaders — we will never be free. We cannot even freely choose what we want, since our choices are determined by our dysfunctional beliefs, which affect the outcomes. 

Effective leadership has less to do with political savvy than an understanding of healthy human dynamics. 

While it is crucial for leaders to promote real change, they cannot lead anyone anywhere good unless they first empower themselves, resolve their own dysfunction, and become conscious of our interconnectedness. 

What’s your policy for powerful living?

True leadership means leading by example, embodying self-responsibility, healthy boundaries and choices, respect and compassion for self and others, an awareness of our creative capacity, and a genuine commitment to excellence in how we live our lives and in our reverence for the planet on which we all depend. 

We do not need — and cannot rely upon — a president or any other leader for that. We must become leaders in our own lives if we truly want to create the kind of world that we expect elected leaders to create for us.

Creating a happy, functional society is not their job. It is ours and ours alone. 

If we take on that all-important personal responsibility, there is nothing we cannot do — and we will, as a result, generate leadership partners who support us in this endeavor. Rather than exploiting our dysfunction, manipulating our weaknesses, seducing us with ‘smart’ technologies or taking advantage of our low self-worth (as governments currently do), they will be champions for our greatness, cheerleaders in our collective successes, and co-creators in the conscious evolution of our species. 

When we address our own dysfunction by transforming our limiting beliefs and behaviors, we can turn our weaknesses into strengths and embody the kind of healthy self-worth that generates true freedom, prosperity and fulfillment — far beyond what any president or leader could ever do for us.  

True governance does not come from the White House, 10 Downing Street or anywhere else. It comes from within.

The author’s latest books; click an image to view on Amazon

---

You may also enjoy Brendon Burchard Interview | Live, Love, Matter with Kristen Noel.