Not engaging in Politics: Bad Idea?

[Realms of Wonder]

Hey all, would appreciate perspective on this. 

 

Is it a bad idea to avoid politics during the early stages of Self-Actualization and Life purpose work?

 

I have purposely shied away from politics, even voting locally and in any elections, and my excuse has been that I dont understand the political domain enough to make conscious, intelligent decisions. 

This could remedied by doing RESEARCH, and LEARNING about it, But in my mind, it makes more sense to handle my life more, meet my basic needs, heal the worst of my neurosis, build more positive habits, and create more value in the world through my life purpose, and then, on that foundation build a deep political understanding.

 

Am I fooling myself?

[Gesundheit2]

I'm yet to see someone benefiting from politics except politicians and the bigger heads.

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by Gesundheit2

[puporing]

The relative value of you living a good life by example is most likely going to be much higher than simply voting. That said it's also not super difficult to cast an informed vote. 

[Leo Gura]

You can avoid it but still vote against assholes like Trump and his ilk.

You can figure out who to vote for in 60 mins of research.

[Oeaohoo]

Aristotle, one of the most influential political theorists of human history, would completely agree with you:

Quote

Again, each man judges correctly those matters with which he is acquainted; it is of these that he is a competent critic. To criticise a particular subject, therefore, a man must have been trained in that subject: to be a good critic generally, he must have had an all-round education. Hence the young are not fit to be students of Political Science. For they have no experience of life and conduct, and it is these that supply the premises and subject matter of this branch of philosophy. And moreover they are led by their feelings; so that they will study the subject to no purpose or advantage, since the end of this science is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether they are young in years or immature in character: the defect is not a question of time, it is because their life and its various aims are guided by feeling; for to such persons their knowledge is of no use, any more than it is to persons of defective self-restraint.

Anyway, the type of politics you are describing today is a total sham so you aren't missing out on anything in avoiding it!

[DocWatts]

5 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

You can avoid it but still vote against assholes like Trump and his ilk.

You can figure out who to vote for in 60 mins of research.

This ^

You don't have to consume political content regularly, just take a small amount of time once or twice a year to find out who's running for office, spend a few minutes doing some very basic research on the policy platforms for the candidates (and any ballot proposals in your state), and cast a ballot.

If you're in the US, I've found this site to be useful and time efficient resource to check the policy positions of candidates before elections.

https://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

[sholomar]

I would avoid it. It encourages an "us vs them" mentality. Plus from an ego perspective I disagree with a lot of the progressive leaning posters here including Leo himself. For example, I don't see republicans like Desantis as this grand threat. I see the woke wing of the democrat party to be at least as equal of a threat, and generally tend to lean anti-authoritarian in general. I find the left can't often see their own authoritarianism, and both sides have their authoritarian tendencies.

Basically at this point in my journey debating politics is pointless. You won't change people's minds and it just causes internal conflict and cultivates negative emotional states by both sides. I'd rather focus on what we all have in common versus what we don't have in common, and try to maintain a live and let live mentality and treat others like I'd like to be treated.

I don't want to fall into this trap of hating republicans and seeing them as evil. On the same note, I don't want to fall into the trap of seeing the woke left as evil either. They are just people. They've both gone through their own hardships, been culturalized by their own dogma to believe what they do.

I find politics is more like a horseshoe... the extreme left and right have more in common with each other than anyone in the middle, the so called "moderates" and "normal people." Unhappy people tend to gravitate towards more extreme political philosophies. Happy people just want to be left alone to live their lives. To the unhappy people this is unacceptable. We could debate the reason they are unhappy forever, and try to blame it on various things we think we can fix... fair enough.

Checks and balances to keep power from concentrating are the best way to keep human nature in check. Doesn't matter of it's Putin, Xi, Soros, Desantis, Trump, Kim Jong-Un, Klaus Schwab, The World Bank, or whoever.. when power gets concentrated into the hands of the few, problems occur. It doesn't matter how enlightened you think your world view is, nobody should have unchecked authority to dictate to people, or to buy political influence. If the person you don't like wins the election, or the court makes a decision you do not like, tough shit. Deal with it. Learn to see from their perspective, try to see why they think the way they do, and try to extend an olive branch of understanding instead of ridiculing and trying to "cancel" them.

One thing I love about the United States... state's rights. If you live in a state that doesn't share your worldview, move to a different one. What I disagree with is using the Federal government to try to force policy on states whether it happens to be about guns, drug use, abortion, or whatever the case may be. Maximum state's rights can allow us to all get along, instead of trying to force our worldview on each other in a one size fits all fashion, and both sides do it.

Bottom line, you will NEVER please everyone. It's simply impossible to do so. You can achieve policy that produces the most happiness and prosperity for the majority.

Edited June 24, 2022 by sholomar

[Realms of Wonder]

9 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

I'm yet to see someone benefiting from politics except politicians and the bigger heads.

 

That video is haunting, seen it a few times since it was released. Chills every time.

[Realms of Wonder]

9 hours ago, puporing said:

The relative value of you living a good life by example is most likely going to be much higher than simply voting. That said it's also not super difficult to cast an informed vote. 

8 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

You can avoid it but still vote against assholes like Trump and his ilk.

You can figure out who to vote for in 60 mins of research.

Good points!

I conveniently forgot that I dont need to understand every detail about the political-scape, to make a decision on who should lead America.

3 hours ago, DocWatts said:

You don't have to consume political content regularly, just take a small amount of time once or twice a year to find out who's running for office, spend a few minutes doing some very basic research on the policy platforms for the candidates (and any ballot proposals in your state), and cast a ballot.

If you're in the US, I've found this site to be useful and time efficient resource to check the policy positions of candidates before elections.

https://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

Thank you! Really appreciate the time you all gave to help.

[Hello from Russia]

15 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

You can figure out who to vote for in 60 mins of research.

But your decisions will still be hijacked by your epistemics and what your in-group thinks and likes/disikes

It baffles me in recent time how little people think about their most important decisions and how much they give away that process to their in group and those that are high in its hierarchy

Such bullshit, but seems like it worked very well historically, lol

[Leo Gura]

14 hours ago, Hello from Russia said:

But your decisions will still be hijacked by your epistemics and what your in-group thinks and likes/disikes

But you should be working on your epistemics while doing self-help work. You don't need to consume a bunch of political news to get your epistemics in place.

Basically just vote for the most Spirally developed guy who has a chance of winning. That's the simple recipe for how to vote. You don't need to watch a bunch of political punditry.

And in today's environment the recipe is even simpler: never vote Republican because they are totally morally bankrupt.

So the only decision you should struggle with is moderate Dems vs progressives. And the only reason not to vote for progressives is if they seem unelectable in a general election.

[Oeaohoo]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Basically just vote for the most Spirally developed guy who has a chance of winning. That's the simple recipe for how to vote.

So the only decision you should struggle with is moderate Dems vs progressives. And the only reason not to vote for progressives is if they seem unelectable in a general election.

To paraphrase Woody Allen:

What if Spiral Dynamics isn’t true and progress isn’t real?

In that case, I’ll definitely have cast the wrong vote!

I suppose if these are just synonyms for the most wise and integrated person this could still be true.

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

And in today's environment the recipe is even simpler: never vote Republican because they are totally morally bankrupt.

Vote instead for the people who want to make sure as many children as possible can have their genitals cut off? Who want to make USA stand for Usury, Sodomy and Abortion? The whole “democratic” system is morally bankrupt! The choice is between the tyranny of high finance or the tyranny of over-socialised leftist nut-jobs, and increasingly - because global capitalism likes to use progressive ideology as a disguise and even a tool - this isn’t even a choice…

That being said, there is a sense in which the right today are more corrupt, even from the anti-progressive viewpoint, and that is their basic inauthenticity: we must remember that the left-right distinction comes from the French Revolution which was itself a radically leftist movement; since that time and thus by definition, all the conservative right has had to “conserve” are the progressive victories of the left, which has reduced them to hypocrisy and to the status of a vacuous vessel to be filled by the corrupting influence of malicious interests.

After all, what is the point of trying to conserve something which seeks only to destroy itself? Like Zarathustra said, “that which you cannot teach to fly, teach to fall faster!”

[Loba]

Personally, I don't understand politics that well.  I've seen my family get into it, they're raving Democrats, and it just seems like it makes them more intolerant and see the world with a bad lens.  Their life revolves around watching Democratic news and they spend most of their free time eating up that garbage.  I feel like the ego can really get stuck here, and I don't want to get involved.  I'll vote Dems because even without much political knowledge it's clear the Republican party is bad news bears.  I feel strongly that my purpose is to devote most of my attention to understanding the spiritual sphere and carving out my path there, and it's where I feel at home working - I understand it, it makes sense to me.  I mean, I have common sense, when you see what the Democrats want to move towards, it seems logical to move in that direction as well, so I know my votes are going towards a good cause.

It's up to you, if you feel like moving in that direction, then learn a little bit here and there and move on if it doesn't feel right.
I think people have destined paths of knowledge and it doesn't always have to include what everyone else is doing, just stick to what makes you feel passionate about it, what keeps your ears and eyes perked.

For me, politics isn't that - it's more like a nail on a chalkboard.  

[AtheisticNonduality]

45 minutes ago, Oeaohoo said:

Who want to make USA stand for Usury, Sodomy and Abortion?