Politics & Ego

By Leo Gura - September 26, 2018

Here’s a really good analysis by Fareed Zakaria of what’s going on in global politics:

He is talking about transitioning Europe and the US to Spiral Dynamics stage Green.

Politics is basically about evolving our identity as a nation. The turmoil we’re seeing in politics today is the result of old, ethnocentric, nationalistic identities struggling to evolve into new, more global, more multicultural, more cosmopolitan identities. As the world gets smaller due to digital interconnection, ease of travel, migration, and inter-racial relationships the old national, cultural, and ethnic boundaries will inevitably get blurred, leaving many traditional egos feeling their identities threatened.

What is required is an openmindedness to a new, wider identity. You can no longer just be an American, a German, a Muslim, a Jew, a man — you must open yourself to being a global citizen, a human. It is not sustainable to maintain isolationism and nationalism in the face of a rapidly evolving global marketplace. The globe is only going to interconnect more, not less. Diversity will be thrust in your face whether you like it or not.

Zakaria cites political scientist Francis Fukuyama as saying, “Identity is the deep-seated psychological need to be recognized as possessing dignity.” But this fails to appreciate the depth of the problem. Identity is not merely a psychological need, identity is an existential, metaphysical imperative. Threats to one’s identity are not merely perceived as a psychological annoyance, but life-threatening. Because identity is not a physical, objective fact but a conceptual construction. One’s identity and one’s reality are deeply enmeshed and mutually reinforcing.

This is why stage Blue and Orange egos resist stage Green with such passion. To the ego this feels like battle to the death. Because it is death! Death = loss of identity. And the ego will always lose!

But it is also a rebirth into a larger, better, truer you. Your true identity is infinite.

The trick is to get over yourself. (Which of course no one wants to do.)

What people fail to understand about politics is that it’s not merely a personal preference for various “good” or “bad” social and economic issues. No! Politics is a battle to invent “good” and “bad”! Politics is a battle to the death to define one’s identity, reality, and to rig the structures of society to maximize the survival of one’s ego. This is why you don’t find much truth in politics. Its purpose is the opposite of truth: survival through fabrication.

Politically in the US and in Europe things are going to get worse before they get better. Stage Blue & Orange are entering their sunset phase in the highly developed Western countries, but they are not going away without a fight. Be prepared for backlash and desperate death throes over the next 50 years. Be prepared for lots of propaganda, fake news, demonization, and disinformation campaigns. This is how the devil plies his trade.

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