An Open Letter of Conscience and Choice by Robert Rabbin, Stephen Mitchell,
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Dan Millman, There are times in life when we must act. And when those moments come,
we must act with our truest heart, our clearest mind, and our noblest
intentions. The Kerry/Edwards ticket is not perfect, and we have many serious disagreements with them, especially in the area of militarism and defense spending. But Howard Dean rightfully cautions us to not let perfection become the enemy of the good. In this election, we have two clear choices. By any standard or measure-policy, ideology, humanity, truthfulness-Kerry is better by far than George W. Bush, and Edwards is better by far than Dick Cheney. We believe their cabinet selections and their many other appointments, including to the Supreme Court, will be better by far than those of George W. Bush. We urge you to register and vote for John Kerry and John Edwards. There are many reasons to not vote: cynicism, apathy, distrust of candidates, or the conviction that spirit transcends politics and we dare not risk our spiritual brightness by descending into the murky depths of political darkness and intrigue. But these are not legitimate reasons. It is an inappropriate spiritual response to our times to be socially aloof and politically uninvolved. The Dalai Lama encourages us, "Sometimes we look down on politics, criticizing it as dirty. However, if you look at it properly, politics in itself is not wrong. With good motivation-sincerity and honesty-politics becomes an instrument in the service of society." The self-evident fact of inter-dependence will not allow us to stand
on the sidelines of life, to ignore what is happening in our own backyards.
We live in society, and society lives in us. This awareness requires
responsibility. This awareness requires participation. This awareness
requires expression. We have been refining our inner consciousness. We have been purifying our inner consciousness. We have been liberating our inner consciousness from the stranglehold of limiting and hurtful beliefs and images and concepts. For years, we have taken this "hero's journey" to inner truth, freedom, and wisdom in order to become whole and free. But we have not taken this journey for ourselves alone; we have also taken this journey for others and for our world. It is not just for ourselves that we love wisdom and practice compassion, not just for ourselves that we pursue truth instead of falsehood, not just for ourselves that we ask those fearsome questions that lead to knowledge of the soul. No, it is not just for ourselves that we do this. We do it equally for others. Our very quest for wholeness of being is at its core a service to others. The Kabbalah reminds us, "First we receive the light, then we impart the light. Thus we repair the world." And now it is time to begin healing this world, our world, in the same way we have sought to heal ourselves from the diseases of hatred, violence, and greed; in the same way we have sought to heal our own hearts of anger born of fear, and fear born of separation. Voting for John Kerry and John Edwards is a positive step towards this
social healing. To be sure, it is just one step in a long journey, but
one we should all take on November 2. Signed (as private citizens, not as representatives of any organization): Robert Rabbin, writer, speaker, creator of TruthForPresident.org |
| Visit Robert Rabbin's websites at: TruthForPresident.org and www.robrabbin.com |
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