This was a lecture given by John White at the Phenix Society's annual conference in Branford, Connecticut in September 1997. For more information, visit his site at www.ufoexperience.com .
I confess that I saw, in America, more than America.
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835)
Perennial means always reappearing, like flowers which you plant once and then come up every Spring. Philosophy, of course, means love of wisdom or, more generally, it means wisdom itself. So "the perennial philosophy" means the wisdom which shows up again and again. It shows up throughout history in all cultures and all parts of the globe. It is timeless and universal. It answers the most fundamental questions people have asked about existence. It speaks to their highest concerns, and has done so since humanity first developed a hunger for spiritual understanding of the human condition.
The Perennial Philosophy is also the title of a book by Aldous Huxley published in 1944 about this global wisdom-tradition. Think back to 1944. The entire world was at war. All civilization was threatened by the butchery and depravity of the Axis powers. As the destruction and death toll increased, humanity's hopes and dreams for a peaceful, united world seemed to be mere fantasies.
In the midst of that nightmare, Huxley wrote a book to offer a solution to the problem of Man's inhumanity to man. To put it simply, he said there will never be a better world until there are better people in it, and the place to begin building better people is with ourselves, through spiritual practices which bring our lives more and more into awareness of the unity of the human family under the fatherhood of God.
Yet the world's religions, from which spiritual practices are derived, seemed as divided from one another as the world's nations. Their potential as a force for universal good will and spiritual brotherhood was unrealized. Earth's political bodies and religious bodies alike were in deep division and struggle. What might end the warfare and unite the human race, Huxley wondered. The only solution, he said, lay in seeing the essential unity of the world's major religions and sacred traditions. What was that unseen unity? In a single word: enlightenment. Enlightenment, he said, is the core truth of the world's major religions and sacred traditions, no matter of what era, no matter from what civilization or culture. The Perennial Philosophy was intended to show the universality of that core truth behind the multitude of names and forms which the religious impulse--the search for God--has taken throughout history.
What is the perennial philosophy which Huxley said could bring peace and harmony to the world? What is the highest common factor among spiritual traditions, religions and sacred lifeways? I've named it with one word: enlightenment. That means knowing God directly, experientially. Huxley stated it thus: "The Perennial Philosophy is primarily concerned with the One Divine Reality substantial to the manifold world of things and lives and minds."
There are three aspects to this timeless collective wisdom, Huxley explained. First is a metaphysic , namely, the fundamental idea that Reality--with a capital R--is a divine substance; he said all things, all lives and all minds are forms of that divine Reality, traditionally called God. Second is a psychology which says that the soul of each individual is identical with divine Reality; in other words, the ultimate identity of everyone is that divine Reality. The third aspect which Huxley saw is an ethic which says that Man's final end--that is, the goal toward which all human life is striving--is knowledge of that divine Reality, of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being, traditionally called God.
To put it more simply, God or divine Reality is the source of all creation and we human beings are one with the source at the soul-level of our being. The purpose of human life is to consciously realize that divine source within us and then align our lives to express it throughout all our activities. We must let the Ground of our being become the basis of our doing .
That is enlightenment. That is God-realization. That is the core truth of the world's major religions and sacred traditions. That is the final solution to the problem of Man's perennial inhumanity to man--a spiritual solution. Huxley's research demonstrated that convincingly in his book and it has been confirmed many times over since then by scholars and spiritual teachers alike around the world.1 In a nutshell, then: Only the perennial philosophy can remove the perennial inhumanity.
America and the Evolution of ConsciousnessAmerica and the Politics of Enlightenment
What does that have to do with America? I'm going to step back a few paces now so that I can present the Big Picture and show you what the relationship is between America and the perennial philosophy. To begin, I'll go right to the main point: America is rooted in a transcendent vision of the divine unity of creation, precisely as the perennial philosophy holds, and the foundation documents of our nation--The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America--express that vision in political terms. I'll explain.
Life is not random or chaotic. There is a directionality, a thrust to life. There is a movement throughout history toward unity and perfection, toward the fullest expression of the intelligence behind all creation--what the Declaration of Independence calls Nature's God. Life emerges in the simplest form and evolves through evermore complex, evermore conscious forms which are evermore godlike in their capabilities and knowledge. In short, there is a divine intelligence behind evolution and the drive in all life is toward God-realization. That's the big picture of all history--not just human history but also of cosmic history.
The unfolding of consciousness and intelligence occurs in stages, just as we see, for example, in a child growing from infancy to adulthood. We can therefore say there are "higher" and "lower" stages--that is, earlier and later stages or advanced and rudimentary stages in the unfoldment of consciousness. These stages are relative to each other, of course, not absolute because in the absolute sense, they are all forms of God, the one great Being who lives us all and is the source of our individual being. However, insofar as they are differentiations of God, they have a hierarchical relationship, a junior-to-senior status. For example, parents are senior to children in age and maturity. For another example, saints are senior to sinners in the process of God-realization. However, there is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future. So while saints are more respectable and desirable to have populate the world than sinners, they have no more inherent value or moral worth than sinners. They are both simply forms of God, with one less conscious than the other of their true or ultimate identity.
This should not be misunderstood as implying that sinful behavior is all right just because the sinner is a form of God. Sinful behavior is wrong because it fails to express God. While it is true that God loves everyone unconditionally and all are equal in the sight of God, it is not true that God approves of everyone's behavior. Unconditional love is not unconditional approval or unconditional acceptance. That is why sacred traditions, especially Christianity, say to hate the sin but love the sinner. That is why the world's religions have moral codes and ethical injunctions. That is also why the Golden Rule has been experientially discovered and expressed by people all over the planet throughout history as the ideal guideline for interpersonal relations; there are moral absolutes to be realized (see Appendix 2).
Just as science recognizes higher and lower forms of development in biology--in other words, an ape is more complex, conscious and evolutionarily advanced than an amoeba--the same can be said about religion and politics. Fundamentalist preaching is less advanced toward God-realization than mystical contemplation. Likewise, Communist collectivism is representative of an older stage of human evolution which has been surpassed by democracy and republican government. In other words, democratic republicanism is an advanced sociopolitical form of organization. It is an expression of a higher stage of human evolution--a stage characterized by the formation of the fully functional ego, the autonomous self and its right to exist freely.
This is an absolutely critical concept to grasp if political theory and socioeconomics are to be grounded in metaphysics and the perennial philosophy, since man's greatest inhumanity to man is war, and war is fought primarily for political and economic reasons. That, incidentally, is an implicit objective of transpersonal psychology, the newly emerging approach to psychology which surpasses behaviorism, Freudian psychology and humanistic psychology. Transpersonal psychology is concerned with demonstrating the presence of the sacred in everyday life. If we had a political movement based on that, we would be talking about the politics of enlightenment. I'm pleased to say that we do indeed have such a movement. It's called America.
A Return to Basics
America, despite all its shortcomings and unrealized promises, is a glorious experiment in human living which had never before been made in the history of this planet. It wasn't made because never before had there been a sufficient mass of people who ascended into the transpersonal realms of consciousness to articulate and sustain the body politic, nor with sufficient territory--that is, land--to implement it. America at the time of its discovery by Europeans was essentially unpopulated virgin territory. Yes, the Native Americans were here, but the continent offered Europeans seeking liberty a brand-new land on which to implement a political experiment based on individual freedom and self-governance.
Prior to the founding of America, the masses of people were not sufficiently developed in consciousness for them to take on personally the responsibilities of a democratic society. It was always a case of their identity, their sense of self, being merely an extension of the king or queen, emperor, high priest, chieftain or whatever monarch ruled their society. The society was an extension of its leader, and that is still the case for many nations today.
America was the first political entity to proclaim that "all men are created equal" and that personal autonomy, the personal sense of self-worth as being equal to all other selves, is the God-given inherent right of every citizen. America was the first to claim that; it was the first nation in history deliberately founded on spiritual principles rather than territorial conquest. It is therefore the most advanced form of cultural evolution thus far on Earth. America was the first to make every citizen the political equal of the highest official, the wealthiest, the most educated, the strongest, the most elite of any other society. In America, no one is above the law; no one can say, as King Louis XIV of France did, "La etat c'est moi! (I am the state)"
This condition--political equality of all citizens--did not exist in earlier societies and does not exist today in Communist societies such as Cuba and China, or wherever else dictatorships and repressive regimes hold sway. Political and legal equality is a radical idea--indeed, a revolutionary idea--which should not be placed on par with the fact that the Communist state theoretically provides full employment, food, shelter, education and medical care for all. Not so incidentally, that is a theory which history has shown failed miserably. The two political ideas--democracy and communism--are simply not on the same plane of consciousness. The goal of human life is God-realization, enlightenment, liberation, and in the political arena, the American ideal of individual freedom is a reflection of that. "Certain unalienable rights" are inherent in the individual human being--the right to life, liberty (which in its highest form is liberation or enlightenment) and the pursuit of happiness (unconditional happiness or God-realization through freedom of worship and spiritual practice, freedom of thought, freedom of ideas, etc.) is guaranteed to all citizens of the United States of America.
All of this is completely beyond what Communism offers or envisions. It is completely beyond statism in all its forms, from fascism through socialism to Communism. All of this, furthermore, is completely compatible both with evolutionary theory in science and with spiritual development in the metaphysical sphere. All is not relative in the arena of competing political theories. Metaphysics says there are absolute truths to be realized. As I said earlier, while God loves all equally, God doesn't approve of all behaviors equally. Morality is not relative. Nor do science and scholarship say all theories and claims are equally legitimate. Copernicus' view of the cosmos displaced Ptolemy's because it was demonstrably better; Darwin's view of evolution displaced Archbishop Usher's Genesis literalism for the same reason; Einsteinian physics was necessary to explain subatomic phenomena beyond the reach of Newtonian physics. So all is not relative either in science or metaphysics; there are absolutes to be realized.
America's role in human affairs and the evolution of consciousness on Planet Earth is poorly understood by most Americans and by the world itself. Ninety-nine percent of even the New Age community, with its emphasis on spiritual development, probably can't describe the evolutionary significance of World War Two or Vietnam, but from the perspective I'm offering here, World War Two was fought over evolution--namely, Hitler's pathological distortion of the New Man (see Chapter 12).
What was Hitler's goal? It was creation of das Ubermensch , the Overman or Superman or New Man, the elite Master Race. Now, it is true that because of the evolution of consciousness, there is a New Man, a higher humanity marked by masters of consciousness, emerging around the globe. (See Chapter 12; also see Chapter 21 of The Meeting of Science and Spirit .) However, Hitler had only a partial and badly distorted understanding of that. He failed to understand that a Master Race is not the same as a race of masters. Instead, he tried to force evolution through his eugenic breeding programs and through holocaustic destruction of Jews, Freemasons, gypsies, homosexuals and other "enemies of the state" whom he thought were outside his image of human perfection--his grotesque, perverted, materialistic notion of human perfection.
As for Vietnam, the antiwar activities during that era were, in their best form, the first conscious efforts at the leading edge of evolution, mainly among Americans, to assert a new political view which extends the American ideal to all humanity, and to pledge allegiance to humanity on the basis of what was really the perennial philosophy, even though most antiwar protesters of that time had probably never heard the term.
How can that transcendental wisdom, that visionary insight be put to work? How can it be made practical around the globe? How can we develop a workable politics of enlightenment or God-realization for all humanity?
The answer is simple: America. The spiritual foundations of America are wholly congruent with the perennial philosophy, which is the highest wisdom known to humanity. If the perennial philosophy articulates that toward which humanity is evolving--enlightenment--then America represents the best political means devised so far to create societal circumstances for nurturing, and even hastening, human evolution to enlightenment.
Defining Patriotism
The War for Independence which founded our nation is over, but the American Revolution goes on because it is a spiritual revolution of global proportions. That revolution is the proclamation of freedom and unalienable rights for all, inherent in us from God and ensured through government of the people, by the people and for the people. Implementing that revolution is called the American Spirit.
However, it appears to me and many others that the American Spirit is waning. Therefore, in order to make further progress in human development, we must first return to basics. We must thoroughly understand fundamentals here at home before we're ready to move on to the world arena. Sadly, however, over the last three or four decades the fundamentals I'm talking about have, to a great degree, passed out of public life and out of the curriculum of many schools. They are being lost to America.
Many Americans today--children and adults alike--show little or no sense of the deepest significance of this nation and how to honor it. They seem unappreciative of our precious national heritage and the great price which so many paid for it. They seem ignorant of the spiritual foundations of our nation and the principles of American government. They seem unconcerned about our eroding liberties and the growing assaults upon the Constitution as government intrudes into every aspect of our lives with ever-increasing regulation and taxation. They seem unaware of the growing threat to American sovereignty as our nation is brought into international alliances not subject to American law and into global organizations managed by unelected bureaucrats not subject to American law. They seem oblivious to the truth of this saying: "To be born free is a great privilege; to die free is a great responsibility." And likewise: "Any government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take away everything."
For example, many Americans mistakenly think America is a democracy. We are not; we are a republic. We pledge allegiance to the republic, not to "the democracy." A democracy is direct rule by the people, especially the majority. A republic is rule by a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law. The two are not the same.
Neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution mention democracy, and for a good reason: our Founders were skeptical of pure democracy. They wisely created a check-and-balance system to limit federal power by dividing government into three branches, the executive, legislative and judicial. We are a democratic society --in the sense of being open and ensuring equal rights for all--but we have a republican form of government which uses voters to elect representative officials. The electorate does not directly govern or enact law. This safeguards against tyranny, not only from rule by despots but also from tyranny by the masses. Those masses have, at times, "democratically" become lynch mobs, depriving individuals of due process of law, even when the "crime" is nothing more than challenging the status quo.
Unchecked democracy can be unjust, as when Socrates was condemned to death by his fellow Athenians--the very men who first articulated the concept of democracy--simply because he asked discomforting philosophic questions. To guard against such democratic tyranny, our Founders took a further step. They amended our Constitution with a Bill of Rights which guarantees individual liberties, no matter what the majority may say. Unlike Socrates, Americans can raise questions which challenge the status quo, thanks to our constitutional freedom of speech. Unlike the Puritans who were driven from 17th century England for their religious beliefs which differed from the established Church of England, Americans can worship as they want, thanks to our constitutional freedom of religion. In a pure democracy, that might not be the case.
There are many other signs of ignorance among the populace. Some people think rights are called entitlements and come from Congress. They think the government owes them a living. They don't bother to vote or become informed about issues. They don't know simple etiquette for saluting the flag when it passes in a parade. They don't know to stand, be silent, cross their heart and face the flag when the national anthem is played. They clap after "Taps" is played at a solemn Memorial Day ceremony honoring deceased veterans, as if the music were an entertainment performance rather than a tribute to fallen heroes.
It has been said that liberty does not descent to a people; the people must ascend to it. It has also been said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Those maxims explain why, in the face of increasing ignorance about the nature of liberty, the American Spirit must be nurtured carefully so that our hard-won independence and the cultural wisdom which make our nation the greatest on Earth are not lost due to ignorance, apathy, irresponsibility, muddled thinking, disrespect for law and legitimate authority, and so many other social ills besetting America right now and fomenting disharmony and disunity.
With that in mind, I'll now discuss patriotism--and the relationship between patriotism and the politics of enlightenment.
Patriotism Is Not Nationalism
Patriotism is difficult to define, yet generation after generation of Americans have recognized it, identified with it and so deeply inculcated it that patriotism became the very basis of their daily life. The word patriotism is derived from the Latin word pater , meaning father, and it is commonly understood as "love of country" or "devotion or loyalty to country." However, patriotism is not simply an emotion. Patriotism is a sentiment, and sentiment, Mr. Webster tells us, means "thoughtful emotion" or "refined judgment prompted by feeling."
Patriotism results from a process which, over time, unites head, heart and hand into a clear vision of what America is all about. In other words, patriotism is not inborn; it is learned. And it is learned as much by example as by speech. It is learned from parents, teachers, public figures and others in positions of authority and influence who demonstrate patriotism in their words and their lives. It is absorbed from the culture, directly and indirectly, in the process of becoming responsible citizens. Native-born children learn it growing up; immigrants learn it by assimilating into mainstream America.
This essay is intended to encourage American patriotism, not only in emotion but also in understanding and appreciating the fundamentals which have built our nation, the greatest ever on Earth. Without that understanding and appreciation which is the basis of true patriotism, America will decline and eventually vanish into history--a future history of tyranny and oppression which I find horrible to contemplate because of forces in the world hostile to freedom. American patriotism, therefore, is intelligent love of our country--informed and knowledgeable appreciation and respect for our country's past, present and future. It is best shown by responsible citizenship , which may be defined as honorable conduct of one's daily affairs, reverence for the principles of our government, participation in the political process, service in the armed forces if called, dignified public display of pride in our national heritage, and vigilant action--civil, legislative, diplomatic and military--to preserve American liberty.
Some people say that even now America is in decline and is drifting away from its foundation in faith-based self-government, moral political action, public-spirited service and just plain civility, not to mention rugged individualism, self-reliance and personal accountability for one's actions. America, they say, is losing its strengths and virtues, and is in need of renewal. The land of the free and home of the brave is becoming the land of the freeloaders and home of the depraved.
Insofar as that is true, I hope this essay will help in the renewal process. Without a clear understanding of the nature of patriotism, America will not endure, nor true world community grow. Properly understood, however, the essence of America is the future of the world .
Patriotism Is Not Chauvinism or Jingoism
First, let's distinguish patriotism from nationalism. They are not the same thing. I am advocating national pride, not nationalism. Patriotism is different from nationalism, which seeks to elevate one nation above all others. Nationalism is contrary to the attitude of our Founding Fathers, who had a "live and let live" attitude and advised people to walk modestly before God. The Declaration of Independence spoke of America assuming a "separate and equal station" among the powers of the earth. George Washington said, "Without a humble invitation of the divine Author of our blessed religion, we can never hope to be a happy nation." The evident superiority of America to all other nations and forms of government does not need to be proclaimed boastfully because our deeds speak louder than our words. Because of those deeds, all the world recognizes America as the land of greatest freedom and opportunity. (To put it another way: immigration is the sincerest form of flattery. People have voted with their feet on the question of which is the best nation in the world.) True love of America is the opposite of what British intellectual H. G. Wells, during World War Two, called "the crazy combative patriotism that plainly threatens to destroy civilization." World War Two was started by an alliance of aggressor nations--the Axis powers--trying to assert through military might that they were superior to all others. That's nationalism. Americans rejected the proposition that might makes right, and continue to do so. Therefore I say: It is patriotically proper to fight to defend one's nation against aggression; it is quite another thing--and morally wrong--to try advancing one's nation by making war upon others.
Patriotism Is Not Isolationism
Let's also distinguish patriotism from chauvinism or jingoism. Patriotism does not support the notion of "my country, right or wrong."2 That is irrational love of country--blind devotion or misplaced loyalty which doesn't recognize the moral foundations and political theory of America. Abraham Lincoln put it this way: "I must stand with anybody [who] stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong." If a public policy or governmental action is clearly wrong or immoral, it should not be supported, no matter how loudly an advocate proclaims that "it is best for America." It should be opposed and denounced. Although someone in a position of authority may "wrap the flag around himself" as he pursues that which is wrong for America, patriots should declare it is not in the best interest of the American people nor in accord with the Constitution, which is the supreme law of our land and a reflection of the God's law for Creation, and they should oppose it through debate, through the ballot box and, if necessary, through the jury box. As the 18th century writer Samuel Johnson said about exposing wrongdoing in high places, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." The Framers of the Constitution, who expected virtue, morality and good character in public officials of the new nation, nevertheless recognized the potential for wrongdoing by them and wisely provided the means for correcting it--impeachment.
The Roots and Dimensions of Patriotism
Last of all, let's distinguish patriotism from isolationism. Patriotism does not mean cutting all ties with the world, raising the drawbridge and turning completely inward. That would be totally contrary to the intent of our Founders, who understood that America had to be involved with the rest of civilization. Trade, diplomatic relations, mail, immigration--all these aspects of our national life were regarded by them as important and were therefore considered in the Constitution. Today, with transportation, communications, finance and commerce so rapid and so global, America cannot isolate itself. Nor should America even try. Those who advocate a hardline American isolation from global affairs are neither realistic nor cognizant of America's destiny. On the other hand, we Americans should not give up our sovereignty to unelected international bureaucrats who rewrite our laws, regulate our internal affairs, redistribute our wealth and generally override our process of representative government. It is not isolationism to stem the flow of illegal immigrants across our borders. It is not isolationism to protect American jobs and the balance of trade. It is simply good sense: putting America first for reasons of national security.
Patriotism is Citizenship-Plus
If patriotism is not nationalism, chauvinism, jingoism or isolationism, then what is it?
Patriotism can be thought of as the national form of love of family . As children grow up, that natural love which they express for their family, the fundamental social unit, extends to larger and larger social units (unless they are taught to hate them or look down arrogantly upon them). Patriotic love of country is no different in kind from love of one's neighborhood, town or city, and state. It is simply love expanding to ever larger social units.
But why stop there? Why should that love end at the borders of a country? Why arbitrarily limit the expression of lovingness? Patriotism, as a manifestation of the God-given impulse to love and value others, has room in it for the ultimate social unit, the human race. Patriotism does not conflict with a concern for world community; patriots can legitimately "pledge allegiance" in spirit to Earth and its inhabitants. That is practical as well as philosophical because America is obviously involved in world affairs, and in today's global society, many conditions and situations require regional and even worldwide efforts to handle them safely, efficiently and effectively.
However, as with charity, patriotism begins at home. Moreover, some families clearly are better able to raise their children than others and have greater resources to offer them than others. If we regard America as a family, America clearly is better able to raise citizens than other nation-families and offers citizens more benefits, more resources--physical, mental and spiritual--for healthy living. What other country has offered such freedom and opportunity for all citizens, regardless of skin color, ethnic origin, religious and political beliefs, or other differences? American political theory and our historical public experience as the world's "melting pot" offer the only viable platform for building a peaceful planetary society which respects diversity while promoting the unity expressed as a guiding principle in our national motto: E pluribus unum .
That's our national unity--spiritual unity. That's the perennial philosophy in action. National unity doesn't mean we're all homogenized into one culture. We are a pluralistic society. We have many cultures, and rightly so. We have ethnic enclaves in cities where you can catch the flavor of the Old World--Italian cooking, Polish music, Chinese arts, African dances and so forth. Recently we have added Asian, Latino and Caribbean enclaves to America. We also have wonderful festivals celebrating all those cultures. However, we're all Americans--we're united in that. American patriotism doesn't erase or eradicate racial, national or ethnic origins. It honors them. It embraces them all in spiritual unity and political heritage. But it doesn't narrowly identify with them or define America exclusively in terms of them. Rather, the identity of Americans is defined in spiritual terms: liberty,unalienable rights, self-government and equality under law.
The Essence of American Patriotism
There is a difference between being an American citizen and being an American patriot. America has some citizens who are anything but patriots; their actions are detrimental to the well-being of our nation. The most notable cases are spies and traitors, who tend to be well-educated and financially secure but who nevertheless wish to harm America for ideological reasons. There are other citizens, such as muggers, rapists, thieves, drug pushers, child molesters, white-collar criminals and welfare cheats, whose behavior undermines the safety and integrity of American society. Still other citizens act within the law, but without reason, civility or a sense of public decency, and thereby debase American society by their ignorant, vulgar behavior.
The requirements for American citizenship do not consider skin color, ethnic or national origin. Rather, they are concerned with a person's knowledge and behavior, and the only colors which matter are red, white and blue. To be a citizen means to possess basic understanding of America's history, political system, national culture and the English language; it also means to abide by the laws of our nation and to perform the obligations which Americans have to vote, serve on juries and in the military, pay taxes and otherwise participate in the political process. Failure to live within the law is grounds for suspending or revoking the benefits of citizenship--i.e., imprisonment or capital punishment, loss of rights (such as no gun possession by convicted felons) and, if the person is not native-born, deportation.
Actually, the legal requirements for citizenship are simple and minimal, but the requirements of patriotism go beyond that. Patriotism carries a moral responsibility to contribute to the betterment of our communities and to serve America, on the basis of enlightened self-interest, with whatever talents and resources we can offer. Doing it for America is ultimately doing it for ourselves on the basis of The Golden Rule, which is a win-win situation for everyone. Citizenship requires good behavior; patriotism requires good character. Together, they produce a good society.
Patriotism honors America in thought, word and deed. Patriots understand that freedom is not free, and that rights are accompanied by responsibilities. Patriots are therefore responsible, law-abiding members of society who revere the principles of American government, honor our national heritage and put the interests of America above the global socialism being implemented from the highest offices of our land. Without a clear understanding by citizens of the nature of patriotism, America will not endure, nor true world community grow, but with it, the American way of life--our core ideas and principles, such as God-given freedom, unalienable rights, government by consent of the governed, separation of church and state, and equality under the rule of law--is the future of the world.
The United States of the World
What is the essence of American patriotism? Since all nations display patriotism, what distinguishes American patriotism from others? And why should we prefer it? The answer to those questions was stated well by Francis R. Bellamy in the preface to his 1942 book entitled We Hold These Truths . The book was compiled during the Second World War and businesses gave it away to their employees to remind Americans of what this country is all about. Bellamy wrote, "Where most patriotism is rooted in love of geopolitical place, America's is basically rooted in spirit." In other words, American patriotism is focused on the territory within our national borders, but it is grounded in recognition of the transcendent spirit of freedom which comes from God and calls us to ever-greater expression of it. The foundations of America are spiritual, not material. God is the source of our liberty, our rights and our justice. The inscription on our coinage says it clearly: "In God we trust." The Great Seal of the United States, designed by a committee of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (some of whom were Masons, hence the Masonic symbolism) and now widely seen on the one dollar bill, portrays it: an unfinished thirteen-tier pyramid representing the new nation, topped by the all-seeing eye of God and the inscription Annuit Coeptis , "He blesses our work."
America is rooted in a transcendent vision of the divine unity of creation under the governance of the Creator, precisely as the perennial philosophy holds. American patriotism appreciates our nation as the modern political embodiment of ancient spiritual wisdom--a wisdom which recognizes timeless spiritual principles at the base of our existence as Divine Providence acts in the world and in human affairs. American patriotism honors the presence of the sacred in everyday life--indeed, in the life of each individual. As Thomas Jefferson enunciated it in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights " So, American patriotism is not bound to a place but is essentially a state of mind, a deepening of spiritual vision, a growth in human consciousness of God and God's action in the world.
As such, America is an experiment in human living based on the idea of expanding personal freedom in a context of community relationship and social responsibility to create the ideal society--a heaven on Earth. However, it is an unfinished experiment and will not be completed until the entire human race enjoys the blessings of liberty we Americans now have. The Liberty Bell is inscribed with the words of Leviticus 25:10: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Intelligent patriotism--that is, the American Spirit--proclaims liberty and its blessings throughout all the world unto the inhabitants thereof. It seeks to extend the best of the American way of life to all people through peaceful means such as education, fair trade and commerce, humanitarian aid, moral suasion and compelling example, rather than through exploitive business practices and manipulative foreign policy serving special interests and power groups. Our foundations are spiritual faith and moral insight into the nature of reality and the design for creation; our foundation documents express that in the absolute values of God-given individual rights, equality and justice under law. Through intelligent patriotism, Americans can fashion a society which builds world unity and removes institutional forms of bondage and barriers to freedom and equality of opportunity.
The concept of a radically new social order is found in many traditions--both sacred and secular--which envision a change in human life, a change which resolves societal disharmonies and allows people to fulfill their deepest longings for peace, truth, self-fulfillment and freedom from the age-old problem of man's inhumanity to man. It is the social expression of the perennial philosophy in action. The most familiar and advanced form of that is called "the American dream," a profoundly spiritual vision expressed on the Great Seal of the United States as Novus Ordo Seclorum , "the new order of the ages." That is the work which God blesses--the creation of a new social order, symbolized by the pyramid on our Great Seal, expressing an enlightened understanding of divinity and our relation to it as one people.
A Vision for Americans
On that basis, I'll now offer a proposal for advancing liberty and attaining world peace. The Twentieth Century has been called the American Century. Why? Since the beginning of this century, there has been a marvelous ascent of America to preeminence among the nations of the world. Economically, technologically, culturally, politically, in so many ways the American Century produced enormous changes for the better in civilization around the globe. I propose that since we're coming to 2001, which is the beginning of a new millennium, we should work to see that the end of the American Century becomes the start of the American Millennium. It is humanity's only hope for a truly free and peaceful world. Here's how I think it can be accomplished.
If another country or territory were to join the Union, the citizens of that new state would then begin, or continue, the educational process of inculcating American patriotism. Since American patriotism can encompass the whole of humanity, all nations, theoretically speaking, could change their status and join these united States. America could embrace mankind through the benign extension of our political heritage to become The United States of the World.
What would develop from that? The result would be a true world community rather than a New World Order. The result would be worldwide self-governance rather than totalitarian world government. The result would be a planet at peace rather than in pieces. The result would be America writ large upon the face of Earth, but not as a superstate, imperium or American Empire. Rather, our great Constitution and its amendments, especially the Bill of Rights, would establish a global society in which war ends, freedom flourishes and prosperity abounds, as spiritual unity is promoted while cultural, racial, religious and ethnic diversity is honored. People everywhere could continue to love the lands of their birth as geographical locations; that would not conflict with loving America as their country of choice because those lands would be included in the territory of America. All sense of national identity which now so divides people into warring factions would be transformed into a sense of American identity; honoring America as a global republic would be synonymous with honoring Earth itself while simultaneously honoring one's previous national identity preserved as a sovereign state of the Union.
There would be no need for the United Nations because the world would be united as one nation. There would be planetwide freedom of speech, worship, assembly, the press, education, travel and trade. There would be no more NAFTAs, GATTs and WTOs. If there are no nations to set tariffs and trade barriers against one another, what do you need all those treaties and agreements for? Do the fifty states of America operate that way? Obviously, no.
The need for military forces and armaments would be virtually eliminated. There would be no more NATOs and SEATOs. If there are no nations to make war on one another, what do you need all those bombs and tanks and soldiers for? Do the fifty states of America settle differences that way? Obviously, no. The United States of the World would provide the ultimate national security and military defense strategy for America; it would eliminate all our enemies by the peaceful and benign process of conversion to Americanism. It would also eliminate the internal strife of tribal genocide, killing fields and brutal military dictatorships which so plague people in so many other countries.
The English language and the American dollar, which are the de facto standard for international business already, would become officially so. Just as we Americans now move freely throughout our land without Customs inspections, bureaucratic regulations and the need to exchange currency when we cross the border from one state into another, so would the entire population of Earth. Just as we Americans now enjoy a common heritage and identity which embraces many cultures, so would the entire population of Earth. America's best would become the world's best. American sovereignty and the American way of life would be preserved from shadowy international forces now seeking to destroy it. In fact, the very word international would become obsolete. America would inherit the world and Americans everywhere would literally pledge allegiance to Earth as "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" in a magnificent demonstration of global governance and planetary patriotism. Rightly understood, the American Spirit provides the global ethic which many New Age and spiritual groups are seeking in their concern for a better world based on love for humanity and the planet. It would turn The American Century into The American Millennium. It would accomplish what John Philip Sousa proudly proclaimed in one of his celebrated marches: "The Stars and Stripes Forever."
Implementing the Dream
I pray that happens; it is my vision, my American dream. The barriers to it are many and mighty. There are vast linguistic, religious, political, economic, legal, educational and cultural differences standing in the way of developing responsible citizenship in those potential new Americans. Other obstacles are brutal and corrupt governments, international criminal organizations, vested financial interests and longstanding hatreds among diverse peoples. There is the absence of democratic traditions and citizen empowerment in many nations, and there is simple ignorance and complacence. There is also--let us think about it in practical terms--the challenge of conducting a Congress enlarged by representatives of Earth's nearly 200 nations which would become new states. And what about redesigning Old Glory to add a new star for every one of those new nation-states? As I said, there are many and mighty obstacles. However, I believe all those obstacles are surmountable and the goal is infinitely preferable to all other political possibilities for global unification.
The thrust of human history is toward ever-greater unity on all levels of our being, including the political. The Preamble to the Constitution puts it thus: " to form a more perfect union." However, the way things are going right now, we have nation warring against nation and the organization which is supposed to be a forum for the peaceful settlement of differences among nations--the UN--is, first of all, badly ineffective in doing its job and, second, has gotten a megalomaniacal view of itself and is attempting to become a world government to replace all other governments. That won't work. That's the way to global tyranny. That's the way freedom will perish from Earth. Only a direct and unadulterated extension of The Constitution of the United States of America can bring a truly free, peaceful and united world.
America as a Form of God-Realization
U.S. citizenship confers responsibilities as well as rights, and those responsibilities must be recognized and accepted by potential new citizens. If nations or territories are to vote for statehood, Congress should set up strict conditions by which they would become qualified for admission to the Union. Such voting should be a plebiscite which truly expresses the opinion of the common people. The majority of a nation--say, England, France, Germany or Japan, which are relatively wealthy and free--might prefer their present status and not want admission to the Union, even though special interests in the government or business community might favor it and attempt to manipulate their legislative body to vote for admission. On the other hand, dictators presently holding power might try to derail a nation's popular wish to join the Union. So only a truly democratic vote should be the basis for statehood.
There are major obstacles to dependable citizenship which should be removed before the status of "American" is conferred on any foreign populace. English is our national language; it should be learned by them because our national unity depends upon a common tongue. Their public and private school curricula should have mandatory courses on American history and political theory, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the responsibilities of citizens to vote, serve on juries, pay taxes and otherwise participate in the political process.
And what about showing respect for our flag and displaying it properly in public? What about learning our national anthem and showing respect for the music when it is played in public? What about learning the Pledge of Allegiance, the national motto and other guiding inscriptions and symbols--and their meaning? What about observing national holidays such as Independence Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day? What about learning of our nation's military structure--the branches of the armed forces, the chain of command from the President to the lowest rank of enlistees or draftees, the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart, and the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States? And, in general, what about inculcating the sentiment of patriotism?
Being a patriotic American means showing intelligent love of country. It means honoring our country's past, present and future. It means understanding and appreciating the fundamental values, ideas, events, traditions, goals and dreams which have built our nation. True patriotism is best shown by responsible citizenship to preserve America's liberty.
All that can't be learned in an instant. Yet without it, citizenship is meaningless and even destructive of America. It's just a highway to the welfare trough. Therefore, in the event of statehood for another nation or territory, I think a twenty-year program of gradual integration to the Union would be appropriate to ensure that those people are properly prepared for citizenship and the American way of life. That means earning the right to citizenship by demonstrating they are ready, willing and able to assume the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship. That means no mass migration to America to feed at the welfare trough, but rather an education in the basics of American citizenship--i.e., understanding the relationship between personal, political and economic freedom--so that our nation is enlarged by responsible, knowledgeable citizens, not crass mercenaries.
My vision of The United States of the World has this additional benefit: introduction of the American way of life into a potential new state would raise its standard of living so that the material benefits of American society are realized there and the likelihood of mass migration of new citizens is eliminated. The reason people emigrate to America is to obtain the freedom and economic opportunity offered here. However, if "here" becomes "there," migration is unnecessary. I propose to extend our freedom and economic opportunity to other lands. Statehood would confer both those conditions on any potential new state; a twenty-year probationary period would allow those conditions to bear fruit and equalize the new state's socioeconomic status with that of heartland America--or at least approach it. Our rule of law and our military strength would establish internal safety and external security for that new state. Our free market economy would elevate the level of goods and services available in that society to heartland American standards or nearly so.
With freedom from political fear and economic want established, heartland American citizens would not be faced with the nightmare of housing and feeding millions of poor, uneducated, unskilled migrant citizens who can't communicate in English. Thus, the residents of, say, Vietnam or Bosnia or Nigeria would have no urgent need to leave their homelands to seek political asylum or to get on the public dole; travel to heartland America would be changed from a desperate desire to escape oppression into a sociable wish to visit relatives or take a vacation. People would be content to reside in their native lands, enjoying the blessings of liberty which we Americans now have in abundance.
Before the founding of America, governments were predicated on limiting the rights of citizens by a supreme ruler or ruling body to whose government the populace was subservient; that remains the case for large parts of Earth even today. America, however, is predicated on a revolutionary idea which had never before been tried in politics: the idea of expanding the freedom of citizens while keeping governmental power to a necessary minimum and government employees as servants of "we, the people." American patriotism differs from all others by that which distinguishes America itself from all other nations: namely, freedom and unalienable rights for each citizen, derived from God--not from any human being or institution--and implemented in society by democratically elected representatives serving in a constitutional republic characterized by a three-part division of federal power. The power of the federal government is strictly limited in its scope; it is constrained by the Constitution through the deliberately narrow definition of its authority and through a system of checks and balances to correct any attempts to overreach its authority. In America, there are equal rights for all and special rights for none. There is no involuntary servitude, no monarch or aristocracy, and no arbitrary rule of despots. No one is above the law; everyone has equal protection under the law. Thanks to the wisdom, courage and sacrifice of the Signers of the Declaration and the Framers of the Constitution, America, the fortress of freedom, has contributed more to the betterment of ordinary people than any other political body in history.
That meaningful liberty is why, as Emma Lazarus's poem about the Statue of Liberty puts it, America is a beacon of hope and opportunity for the tired and the poor of other nations, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of their teeming shores. The political experiment called America begun more than two centuries ago is Earth's greatest opportunity for every human being to use his or her talents, effort and property, in the pursuit of happiness, to build a satisfying life in a context which encourages civic responsibility, social justice and spiritual unity. I can think of nothing more desirable short of total enlightenment for all humanity, which would be the full coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.
America is rooted in a transcendent vision of the divine unity of creation under the governance of the Creator. To put it simply, America is a form of God-realization . Our nation is an evolutionarily advanced political means of expressing God in our lives, and in its ideal form is wholly in line with what the perennial philosophy prescribes for peace on Earth. The perennial philosophy, the highest wisdom known to humanity, guides society toward God-realization, the goal of life. Of all the nations on Earth, the spiritual foundations of America are most congruent with the perennial philosophy and thus--to repeat--America represents the best political means devised so far to create societal conditions for supporting human growth to enlightenment. Therefore, the essence of America is the future of the world.
American patriotism carries forward humanity's sacred love of freedom and the hard-won wisdom of our national experience which preserves our independence against tyrants and scoundrels so that, some day, all the inhabitants of Earth may enjoy the blessings of liberty.
I'm proud to be American! I'm proud to salute the flag! God bless America, this wonderful land I love! May the American Spirit embrace the world!
FOOTNOTES
1. See, for example, The Essential Unity of all Religions by Das Bhagavan (Theosophical Press, Wheaton, Illinois, 1939); The Transcendent Unity of Religions by Frithjof Schuon (Pantheon, New York, 1953); A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom edited by Whitall N. Perry (Simon & Schuster, 1971); and Oneness: Great Principles Shared by All Religions by Jeffrey Moses (Fawcett Columbine, New York, 1989). Also see World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts edited by Andrew Wilson (International Religious Foundation, 1991) on the Internet at <http://www.unification.net/ws>.
2. It is important to note the complete quotation from which this incomplete and distorted notion arises. Carl Schurz (1829-1906) was a German army officer, politician and revolutionist who fled to the United States in 1852. He became a brigadier general of Union volunteer soldiers during the Civil War. His words were "My country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right." That is intelligent American patriotism. Without the qualifying second sentence, it is mere chauvinism or jingoism; but with it, moral considerations and justice--which are among the foundation values of America--become guides to public policy.