Democracy is at issue around the globe. There are major world powers like China and Russia that have dismissed democracy as an inferior form of government. Other countries, like Turkey and Hungary, pay lip service to democracy while autocrats undermine its foundational tenets.
What I propose to you is that democracy itself was never the sole end and aim of democratic movements through history. Those movements were inspired by something else. And the fulfillment of the dream of democracy goes beyond democratic principles.
In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln spoke of “…government of the people, by the people, for the people…” That is the idea behind democracy. But there is nothing guaranteeing the goodness of that government. And democracy, of itself, does not say what might be achieved by a country.
The fulfillment of democracy is the fulfillment of the original inspiration behind it. Democracy does not exist for its own sake. When the original inspiration is lost, a ceiling on the culture of that nation is established. So instead of moving into the fulfillment of democracy, that country bounces off the ceiling, only to regress into patterns of human government based on authoritarian control in which human self-interest and the will of a few dominates the many. If concentration of wealth is any measure of this, it’s worth noting that the United States has the greatest concentration of wealth among the rich of any major economy, with 1% of the population owning 30% of its wealth.
In the current era, the United States initiated a movement toward democracy around the world. The inspiration behind the institution of this democracy came from several sources. Perhaps foremost among them was a great urge for religious freedom and the fulfillment of religious ideals. England—the mother country for many American colonists—had broken from the Catholic Church to form a separate Church of England. The Puritans decided that this didn’t go far enough. So they separated from the Church of England, and many emigrated to the American colonies. John Winthrop, a Puritan leader, wrote in 1630, “We shall be as a city upon a hill; the eyes of all people are upon us.” Other Protestant groups flocked to the colonies, seeking to fulfill their religious vision.
The Great Awakening was a religious movement that swept the colonies from the 1730s to the 1760s. It brought a message of spiritual individualism—the belief that ordinary people can experience a direct connection to God without clergy or hierarchy. Leaders of the movement traveled through the colonies, bringing a charismatic version of the Christian message, forging a common emotional experience among the colonies.
The philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment motivated the colonists. It inspired this idea, expressed in the Declaration of Independence in 1776:
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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
This turned the view of governments and of humanity upside down. No longer was the supreme earthly power seen as another person or a government. Authority was intrinsic to each person and God-given.
The close of the Declaration reflects the Puritan covenantal theology, the belief that people may form a covenant with each other and with God to create a righteous society.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
My point is not that the colonists’ ideals were perfect. It is simply that there was a powerful vision behind the establishment of this democracy. And their primary purpose was to fulfill that vision.
What is the answer to the crisis of democracy we face in the world today? The experience of this nation suggests that we need something beyond championing the principles of democracy in and of themselves. There has to be a larger vision of what we are here to fulfill as humankind. There has to be a vision of the ultimate fulfillment of the principles of democracy.
The Founding Fathers of America had a vision of people possessing an intrinsic empowerment—something given to them by the Creator. I see this as part of our primal spirituality. Our primal spirituality is our original spirituality—the built-in connection to our spiritual origins that we were born with. In this context, the word primal simply means first. So our primal spirituality is our first spirituality. It is intrinsic to who we are. It is at the root of the human experience, and it is the originating truth behind all the world’s great faith traditions and spiritual paths.
The truth of our primal spirituality has been presented to humankind by visionaries through the ages:
The earth is the Lord’s.
No being stands alone. All belong to the Great Spirit.
Pachamama holds us in her living womb. We are not masters, but children.
The Divine indwells all worlds. We are but instruments of a vast intelligence.
You are khalifa—stewards of the Earth, entrusted, not entitled.
You are here to keep the balance—to sing the world awake each morning.
All Creation is aflame with the glory of God—to tend it is to adore it.
Love the Lord your God with all.
Offer all you are to the One—heart, breath, thought, and action—as sacred fire.
Let your every heartbeat be remembrance—this is love with the whole of your being.
Offer the whole of your consciousness—mind, body, and breath—to awaken in the One.
Love one another.
I am because we are. Your life is my life. Let me love you as myself.
Let compassion be your religion. See all hearts as one—the Beloved in every face.
See the One in all beings and love them as your very Self.
These are voices of our primal spirituality. The fulfillment of democracy is to know this and to manifest it in our culture. This is not the fulfillment of religious doctrine. It is the fulfillment of our intrinsic powers of Creation.
Does it make any sense to stage another American Revolution to manifest these things? Of course, it makes no sense. It has already been done. What we need is a movement of peaceful presence. What we need is people who simply show up knowing their primal spirituality and sharing it openly with each other.
Impotent, would you say? Consider this. Erica Chenoweth is a Harvard professor who did an exhaustive study of resistance movements around the globe from 1900 to 2006. She is the author of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. She made this astonishing finding. Every single non-violent movement in this time period that had at least 3.5% of the population actively participating was successful in overturning the authoritarian regime. Non-violent movements were twice as likely to overturn the existing authoritarian regime as violent movements. And they were much more likely than violent movements to lead to democracy as opposed to renewed authoritarianism or civil war.
It turns out that just having the courage to show up, consciously expressing higher values, is a potent act. Think of Lech Wałęsa and the Solidarity movement in Poland, and its backing by Pope John Paul II. Or the non-violent demonstrations in Manila—with the participation of Catholic Church leaders—that led to the departure of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos (the woman with all the shoes). Ghandi’s non-violent confrontation of the British Empire is perhaps the best-known non-violent movement of all.
Political and cultural regeneration does not happen all by itself. If it is part of a positive step forward in our evolution as a race, it is consequent on spiritual regeneration. And the basis for spiritual regeneration is our primal spirituality. Claiming that for ourselves—knowing it, living it, and declaring it—is not only a resistance and reaction against existing autocracy. It compels a change of heart for humanity, which is the basis for positive change.
On November 15, 1969, a month after leading 1,200 students on a march to protest the Vietnam War, I joined a half-million people on the mall in Washington, D.C. I ended up being only several hundred feet from the bandshell as Pete Seeger led us all in singing Give Peace a Chance. Years later, Pete described it this way:
Well, we started singing, and after a minute or so, I realized it was still growing. Peter, Paul and Mary jumped up onstage and started joining in. A couple of more minutes, and Mitch Miller hops up on the stage and starts waving his arms. I realized it was getting better and better. The people started swaying their bodies and banners and flags in time, several hundred thousand people, parents with their small children on their shoulders. It was a tremendously moving thing.
People estimate that this simple song of essentially two lines went on for twenty minutes. Listening to Pete and singing along with him, protest turned to fervent prayer.
What is our fervent prayer now?
No being stands alone. All belong to the Great Spirit.
Pachamama holds us in her living womb. We are not masters, but children.
Offer all you are to the One—heart, breath, thought, and action—as sacred fire.
I am because we are. Your life is my life. Let me love you as myself.
May our collective prayer bring us to a true democracy where we each embrace the gifts given to us by the Creator and use those gifts to bring the ultimate fulfillment of democracy in the world.
David, My spirit is lit up by the possibility that we as human beings can do something. Do something holy and creative and life giving. I have heard it said in the end God wins. I’ve said it myself. The victory doesn’t need to be in spite of human beings. We have the opportunity to play a part in the revelation of design and beauty. To co-create and bring mastery to the circumstances of our lives.
The experience of the joy of life may be the most powerful tool I have. Planting good seed, caring for new crops, enjoying the harvest together….these are heavenly responsibilities.
There is no us without you and me. I take responsibility for my part in the democracy between us which offers the opportunity for democracy in the world.
What a beautiful meditation !
Here in South Africa, ahead of the G20 summit and deliberations in Johannesburg, ordinary people are celebrating the uplift of their city – street lights are being attended to, as well as traffic lights – approx 80% not working; hopefully water supply will be more regular, etc. So there is somewhat of a celebration for what is occuring, not so much for the summit, but for better conditions in their neighbourhood.
Interesting to note the visit of the King and Queen of England to Pope Leo. May there be bridges built between different nations, different levels of government, and different cultures – new bridges must be fostered for Peace to have a chance.
Rudolf Steiner inspired people to move through their different stages of selfhood – from sentient to mindful, to consciousness soul expression. May all people realise that now.
Here in South Africa many of us promote the Spirit of Ubuntu – where we may embrace the humanity of another, whilst living in integrity with our ancestors, unlocking the original authentic intelligence individually still vital for and in our day. An African philosophy that inspired the Freedom Charter – a precursor to the New Constitution for South Africa, beautifully written and provided, and as a new democracy, we have difficulties living up to its ideals.
Im interested in the Fourth Turning by Neil Howe – and the possibioity that we listen to all our artists, leading a new inner revolution vital for the emerging of a new possibility in our world, lifting the ceilings of tribal cultures and economic cultures ?
We have to move forward, thank you David for inspiring us all to a deep dive – I agree with you, let’s have the courage to show up, and consciously express higher values. Let’s express more of ‘our primal spirituality, the first, intrinsic to who we are, at the root of human experience, and the originating truth behind all the world’s great faith traditions and spiritual paths.’
I am with you in this !
Anne-Lise
Brian Gallup. Kamloops BC.
This morning, Fareed Zakera and two other journalist were discussing Democracy on his weekly television broadcast, GPS. They often discuss democracy but this time it was different, or at the least I heard it differently.
Fareed said, “The challenge for democracy today is moral.” and in the same context he describe how renewal of trust is also important.
This really rang my bell! Clear, clean thought, and a turning of the heart predicates intelligent loving action.
Something else came up, voter’s perceptions, that is based in the past on some apparent reality and is counter productive in the present moment. It is uphill work introducing a new policy to people who have their heads and hearts in the past.
It’s no fun living that way either. We can carry perceptions and expectations forward with us from the past as if they were a road map for the future. There is no power or intelligent loving action in that.
Brian Gallup
I want to add something, a view, which I have studied and engaged at the Spiritual Expression level over recent years.
One point is that a few individuals functioning within what we now call the Founding Fathers of American Democracy, engaged in Counsel and conversation with leaders of the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy who called themselves, The People of the Longhouse, a specific community of Native American leaders who knew that they were and are responsible for the destiny of mankind, and mankind in America, at that time when American leaders were preparing to remove America from the government of the King and Crown in England. The Iroquois Confederacy had already moved into what we might call a democratic range of government, and the leaders who counselled with a few of the American leaders of that day played a significant role, within the Spiritual Expression Plane of function, unconscious as it was at that time, but becoming conscious in a few, including the American leaders and the Haudenosaunee leaders in the 1770s. This engagement is noteworthy and it is not insignificant as its influence is still with us today.
And a Second point is that the Holy Ghost substance hovering over the Americas, residual substance remaining from both the Motherland Lemuria influence primarily on the West Coast, and the Fatherland Atlantis influence primarily on the East Coast, still permeates the Americas, fallen as it is, and these unified influences do relate to the Central Flame of the Most High, and can be seen at work in both the Ascending Flame and the Desceding Flame of both Mother God and Father God right now, and in what is now transpiring in democracy as we know it, and in democracy as this step will be fulfilled in this One Generation of Holy Substance, as we let it be fulfilled day-by-day, and let the transformations come in all the cycles ahead, moving from democracy into Priesthood Government of the Most High under the leadership of the Body of the High Priest as that manifests on earth as it is in Heaven. So here are a few thoughts added into the meditation within this Pulse of Spirit—and there is more! But this is sufficient unto the day. I am ever so thankful for you David, and for all who are engaged in this Almighty Work, consciously and subconsciously. db
David, I feel the importance and know the significance of this Pulse of Spirit offered through those of us who speak in Oneness with you; as well as its spiritual and intellectual influence on others who do not yet know these things.
As angels, we have been incarnate here on earth before, likely with various ones who are right here now with us, to carry forward and fulfil the Divine purposes achievable within the procession of the Cosmic Ages, the Rhythms of Mazzaroth, and the pulsations that come within the sequence of the Four Forces at every level. Here we are now incarnate together once again in the pulsation of this specific Age, which we have called the Spiritual Expression Plane of Being. Out of Divine Being, specific ranges of Divine Achievement are required of us if we would fulfill the reason for Being here now—the same requirements now as were required back then, but with a different approach to fulfillment of the Divine Pattern as it may be worked out within the same Divine Commission: the Restoration of MAN. Let there be MAN—Let there be New Woman and New Man, functioning as essential component parts, the Ascending Flame and the Descending Flame, within the Central Flame of the Christ Body, inner and outer facets fused as One Flame in One Body.
As I see it within my frame of spiritual reference, democracy emerged as a worldwide response—in Greece, and in the Americas, and in other locations—to the coming of the Master and His initiation of the Second Sacred School, which related, and now relates, to a global regeneration of the mind of mankind, so that the mind might move in accord with His re-focalization of the Second Sacred School, the Mental Plane; and ultimately, what would be required of specific Angels, men and women, moving in accord with the Rhythms of Mazzaroth, in the opening of the Third Sacred School, the Spiritual Expression Plane of Being. If one tracks “history” from a spiritual perspective, it is easy to see that it was inevitable that what we think of now as a democratic approach would develop under the government of the Universal Priesthood. So, through various Angels incarnate and functioning in their places around the world, democracy was the easiest next step for humanity as a whole, to move from the Second Sacred School into the Third, and then take the essential next step, allowing the Fourth Plane, the realm of the Pure Heart of the individual and the Whole to become operational, and thus provide what is needed to unify the spiritual, the emotional, the mental (conscious and subconscious mind) and the physical levels of Being within the Divine Design—fusion—all leading into the Fifth, the Sixth and the Seventh, the restoration of God Man and God Woman on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Here we are now, considering these things in Spirit and in Truth—standing as we are before and within EDL the Door, at the Thrilling Threshold that is before us now, ready to cross the Great River into this New Promised Land in consciousness and in Spirit, but with some necessary provision yet to be made before entering. All that went before of rightness and of Truth is with us now; much that is coming out of the future is seen in the New Heaven, as coming out of the East, and welcomed. We move into those ranges of function that are the fulfillment of what we have known as democracy, so that we will be ready to move into what lies beyond this door, and seize the day, in the Name of the Lord, moving in the Way of the Master. As it was said unto Joshua long ago, so it is said to the representative Body Of Joshua now: “Be strong and of a good courage… that thou mayest observe to do according to all the Law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest… for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.” I thank the Lord for the opportunity to move in Oneness with you in this Great Day.
“The fulfillment of democracy is the fulfillment of the original inspiration behind it.” I loved to read this text, David ! I attended an interesting lecture this week by a professor of political history. His particular interest has been the American continent.
The South-American countries developed one after another by copying the Uited States, he said. But they never had the foundation for democracy. They have had a history of leaders who have not provided “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” So these countries keep bouncing back into authoritarian control of human self-interest.
It was this particular part of his talk that touched me, because I have a direct experience with European immigration to America. When I read “The Fulfillment of Democracy”, I felt that original inspiration behind it. Voices of our primal spirituality, and fulfillment of our intrinsic powers of creation, as co-creators.
In some regards, we are not born equal. We all have our unique presence as incarnate souls, and we have our individual gifts to bring; to know for ourselves our gifts and strengths and how they may be offered with love.
I was held at a traffic light and saw a vagrant on the street corner. That could just have been a snapshot. However, I had time enough to witness this man weeding the paving. He was doing a job, clearing the weeds, doing what was his to do. I know there is power in offering a blessing, so I blessed the man. He made my day joyous just to watch him.
Something I’ve always loved about democracy is its faith that when the people take council together, their inherent wisdom will show the way.. This is what makes democracy such a courageous undertaking, because every autocratic rule denies that the people have wisdom, and rules not through faith and courage, but through fear. another wonderful thing about democracy is that in principal, it encourages individuals to be concerned, in honour, not merely for themselves, but for the whole — surely a step along the way, and what makes democracy so powerful. Our position in all this calls for courage and faith also, courageous faith that the truth of love, moving today, can overcome anything that works to darken and diminishes the central flame.
Your words are very timely, David, as we are seeing such an erosion of democracy in our country and throughout the world. You put the solution quite succinctly: “Political and cultural regeneration…is consequent on spiritual regeneration. And the basis for spiritual regeneration is our primal spirituality.”
So obviously we all have a part to play in this regeneration, and that is to make sure our own thoughts, words and actions flow from the primal Source of Love at the core of our Being.
You have spoken of vision, of renewal, of the dawning of a new consciousness that might redeem democracy and restore humanity’s primal spirituality. Such aspirations are noble, and they touch upon the archetype of rebirth — that eternal pattern by which the old world dies and the new emerges from its ashes. Yet one must remember that every rebirth is preceded by death, and every transformation by dissolution. The psyche will not be renewed until it has endured the disintegration of its former gods.
You write of the need for “peaceful presence,” of a movement born not of violence but of awakened being. I would not disagree. But I must tell you that true peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the integration of opposites. The unconscious is not pacific. It is a seething chaos of drives, fears, and forgotten gods. If you would awaken the primal spirit within humanity, you must first prepare mankind to meet the terror of its own depths. To proclaim light without knowledge of darkness is moral evasion. We are redeemed not by what we imagine ourselves to be, but by what we have the courage to confront.
Every culture, like every individual, casts a shadow. The American nation — whose story you tell with reverence — was born not only from vision but also from conquest and denial. The same spiritual fire that inspired liberty also consumed the native forests and peoples. This is not to condemn, but to see. If a people cannot bear to know the darkness of its own history, it becomes possessed by that darkness. It projects its evil outward upon the world, calling it enemy, infidel, or barbarian. Thus, nations lose their souls in the very act of defending them.
You are right to say that democracy has lost its inspiration. But its renewal will not come by reasserting the old ideals, however sacred, nor by invoking a universal religion of love. The crisis is psychological: modern man no longer believes in his own soul. He worships only what he can measure — wealth, success, and power. His God has fled into the unconscious, and there, in the shadows, He has become demonic. What you call authoritarianism, I would call the collective possession by this repressed divinity. When men will not serve the living God within, they are compelled to serve the false gods of the outer world.
Therefore, I say: do not look first to movements or manifestos, but to the lonely work of inner transformation. A new epoch will not be born from collective enthusiasm but from the suffering of individuals who have descended into themselves and brought forth what is eternal. Such men and women will be few, but they are the seeds from which a new order may grow. They will not preach unity; they will embody it. They will not promise salvation; they will live it quietly, without demand. They will be whole, and their wholeness will call others to the same task.
If democracy is to endure, it must become an image of this inner wholeness — a form through which the divine polarity of human nature can find lawful expression. A true democracy is not the rule of the majority but the balance of opposites within the soul of a people. It will fail whenever the conscious mind tries to suppress the unconscious, or when rational man disowns his mythic roots. It will be reborn only when both reason and faith, light and darkness, masculine and feminine, stand again in sacred tension.
Your vision, therefore, must descend from the heights of idealism into the depths of reality. For the spirit that would redeem the world must first suffer it. The new humanity you seek will not appear through prayer alone, but through the fire of confrontation with the shadow — within each heart, and within the nations of the earth. Out of that crucible alone is the true Self born.
Then, perhaps, what you call “primal spirituality” and what I have named “the Self” will be recognise as one and the same — the eternal spark within all beings, which alone can create a civilisation worthy of the name human.
I love them all – and – that being said – I would choose this as my favorite –
I am because we are. Your life is my life. Let me love you as myself.
Thank you so much for your words David – they fill the heart and when that happens – the world of Grace expands for us All.