Nothing could be more self-defeating than to cater to the ego's insane logic that the lessor of two evils is not the greatest possible good between two likely alternative outcomes.
And we have to admit ego is powerfully guiding many individuals in the libertarian movement. But how to get through to the insane? Sometimes a principle is more easily illuminated if lifted out of the immediate (in libertarians' case, political) context:
Pretend you have been chased into a slot canyon trap with only two ways out. Behind you, blocking the way you entered the canyon, is a very big violent gang who wants to kill you and kill anyone else in its path. Ahead of you, blocking the other way out, is another big but somewhat less violent gang who only wants to rob you of your money but then let you pass ... to live again another day.
Inside your head you hear two voices.
The voice of your ego is shouting, "Don't choose the lesser of two evils! There must be a third way." But there is no third way. The canyon walls are high and not scalable. There are no helicopters or magic carpets to rescue you, and wishing cannot change reality. There is only one reality: one of these two gangs is going to have their way with you.
The still small voice of your spirit is quietly saying, "Move forward, give the less violent gang the extortion payment they demand. Because if you live to fight another day, and if you follow spiritual guidance, you will eventually defeat both these gangs."
Are you going to listen to the voice of your ego ... or your spirit?
Unfortunately, libertarians don't often listen to spiritual advice, yet here is how Jesus Christ explains ego vs. spiritual goals in his revelation for the 21st Century, A Course in Miracles:
Your ego's goal for you is self-sabotage
The death penalty is the ego's ultimate goal, for it fully believes that you are a criminal, as deserving of death as God knows you are deserving of life. The death penalty never leaves the ego's mind, for that is what it always reserves for you in the end. Wanting to kill you, as the final expression of its feeling for you, it lets you live but to await death. It will torment you while you live, but its hatred is not satisfied until you die. For your destruction is the one end toward which it works, and the only one with which it will be satisfied. (ACIM Chap. 11)
Your spirit's goal for you is life abundant
Libertarians intuitively feel that their spirit is free and their spirit wants for them outer conditions of freedom which reflect the freedom of their spirit. But how many recognize their spirit is their life-force ... and only the living can be free ... and above all, one's spirit offers a broader perception and guides the most logical and reasonable truly life-serving path among the alternatives available?
To the ego, the goal is death, which IS its end. But to the Holy Spirit, the goal is life. (ACIM Chap. 15)
From new perception of the world there comes a future very different from the past. Death will not claim the future now, for life is now its goal, and all the needed means are happily provided. (ACIM Lesson 314)
Never forget that the ego believes power, understanding, AND TRUTH lie in separation. And to ESTABLISH this belief it MUST attack. The ego FOCUSES ON ERROR, and OVERLOOKS TRUTH. The ego ALWAYS seeks to divide and separate. The Holy Spirit ALWAYS seeks to unify and HEAL. (ACIM Chap. 7 & 10)
Listening to the warped reasoning of the ego guarantees failure. If you drop out altogether politically, allowing the greater evil to possibly win, the ego has won, and you have lost. If you stay politically active but imagine that a third party effort or a write-in effort could achieve any good, you have deluded yourself since one of the big gangs will nevertheless win, and if it is the greater evil gang you will have effectively forfeited your life.
Failure is all about you while you seek for goals that cannot be achieved. Pursuit of the imagined leads to death because it is the search for nothingness, and while you seek for life you ask for death. (ACIM Lesson 131)
For those libertarians who might be willing to follow their spirit and not their ego, here is a useful prayer:
“Father, I give You all my thoughts today.
I give You all my acts as well,
that I may do Your Will
instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained,
and wasting time in vain imaginings."
To understand the insane psychology of modern "liberal progressives," read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."
"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles
"I think of myself as a freedom zealot."
And we have to admit ego is powerfully guiding many individuals in the libertarian movement. But how to get through to the insane? Sometimes a principle is more easily illuminated if lifted out of the immediate (in libertarians' case, political) context:
Pretend you have been chased into a slot canyon trap with only two ways out. Behind you, blocking the way you entered the canyon, is a very big violent gang who wants to kill you and kill anyone else in its path. Ahead of you, blocking the other way out, is another big but somewhat less violent gang who only wants to rob you of your money but then let you pass ... to live again another day.
Inside your head you hear two voices.
The voice of your ego is shouting, "Don't choose the lesser of two evils! There must be a third way." But there is no third way. The canyon walls are high and not scalable. There are no helicopters or magic carpets to rescue you, and wishing cannot change reality. There is only one reality: one of these two gangs is going to have their way with you.
The still small voice of your spirit is quietly saying, "Move forward, give the less violent gang the extortion payment they demand. Because if you live to fight another day, and if you follow spiritual guidance, you will eventually defeat both these gangs."
Are you going to listen to the voice of your ego ... or your spirit?
Unfortunately, libertarians don't often listen to spiritual advice, yet here is how Jesus Christ explains ego vs. spiritual goals in his revelation for the 21st Century, A Course in Miracles:
Your ego's goal for you is self-sabotage
The death penalty is the ego's ultimate goal, for it fully believes that you are a criminal, as deserving of death as God knows you are deserving of life. The death penalty never leaves the ego's mind, for that is what it always reserves for you in the end. Wanting to kill you, as the final expression of its feeling for you, it lets you live but to await death. It will torment you while you live, but its hatred is not satisfied until you die. For your destruction is the one end toward which it works, and the only one with which it will be satisfied. (ACIM Chap. 11)
Your spirit's goal for you is life abundant
Libertarians intuitively feel that their spirit is free and their spirit wants for them outer conditions of freedom which reflect the freedom of their spirit. But how many recognize their spirit is their life-force ... and only the living can be free ... and above all, one's spirit offers a broader perception and guides the most logical and reasonable truly life-serving path among the alternatives available?
To the ego, the goal is death, which IS its end. But to the Holy Spirit, the goal is life. (ACIM Chap. 15)
From new perception of the world there comes a future very different from the past. Death will not claim the future now, for life is now its goal, and all the needed means are happily provided. (ACIM Lesson 314)
Never forget that the ego believes power, understanding, AND TRUTH lie in separation. And to ESTABLISH this belief it MUST attack. The ego FOCUSES ON ERROR, and OVERLOOKS TRUTH. The ego ALWAYS seeks to divide and separate. The Holy Spirit ALWAYS seeks to unify and HEAL. (ACIM Chap. 7 & 10)
Listening to the warped reasoning of the ego guarantees failure. If you drop out altogether politically, allowing the greater evil to possibly win, the ego has won, and you have lost. If you stay politically active but imagine that a third party effort or a write-in effort could achieve any good, you have deluded yourself since one of the big gangs will nevertheless win, and if it is the greater evil gang you will have effectively forfeited your life.
Failure is all about you while you seek for goals that cannot be achieved. Pursuit of the imagined leads to death because it is the search for nothingness, and while you seek for life you ask for death. (ACIM Lesson 131)
For those libertarians who might be willing to follow their spirit and not their ego, here is a useful prayer:
I give You all my acts as well,
that I may do Your Will
instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained,
and wasting time in vain imaginings."
To understand the insane psychology of modern "liberal progressives," read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."
"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles
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