Living, Governing, and Relating: Use Spiritual Consciousness! (Or Reading the Writing on the Wall!)

How good are we at reading the writing on the wall? How skilled are we at using our spiritual senses to understand and respond to the events in our world? Why is reading the writing on the wall of society and the world at large so crucial?
Because the world, this planet and the inhabitants of Earth, are at another turning point, I believe. A funny thing about history is that the longer we as a species are here and the more history we have, the more we should realize we have opportunities to experience life in different ways, if we are adept at spiritually translating the writing on the wall.
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As a species, scientists believe we homo sapiens date back about 300,000 years ago. Even if we only consider the historical period, our history should inform us we have the power to shape society in a way that benefits nearly everyone; after all, we can make sense of our senses. Why don’t we, then, read the writing on the wall?
Ego and Heart energy choices determine this. I saw Ego used many times when I was a public school teacher, and I’m not saying it was wrong. Most students who received high grades didn’t think it was fair to offer students who were failing an opportunity to pass by doing make-up work. The good students enjoyed superiority and wanted that protected. Just like the ruling, top of the heap, wealthy ones in US society now.
I remember one girl in particular who didn’t appreciate a project that I did with many classes. For about three or four weeks, I implemented the model of education I believe should be a base model: an integrated curriculum in a democratic classroom. Students designed their own curriculum, with guidelines and procedures I provided for them. After introducing the unit, I told the classes everyone had an A for those weeks.
Well, the girl I mentioned did not like this. She was huffy the whole time. When I asked students for their written evaluations of the project, she ripped me a new one, said she resented being a guinea pig, complained she had done all the work in her group, and believed I failed as a teacher for those weeks.
Two years later she came back to visit me to apologize and inform me how valuable that experience had ended up being in college for knowing how to learn. She also told me our class had led her to take a Shakespeare course as an elective. She had failed to see the value earlier; she could not read the writing on the wall.
Her Ego had been given the green light to resent others receiving the same grade. Ego wants to be the winner, the victor, alone, isolated, but adored. This is a protection because we control our life when this happens. It’s not necessarily right or wrong, but ego energy will not grant us that which we really seek as highest self.
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Ego predominates in general, which is why laws even exist. Ego will do whatever is necessary to protect, and its expressions may look very different, but its motive is the same.
Sometimes, the favored and ruling majority claim they are being discriminated against — reverse discrimination — because they simply do not want to feel threatened; others may be able to have the same things they have, the same opportunities for those things. They value wealth, power, control, and the lion’s share of the market on righteousness; they will tell us what is right and wrong.
Egotists will have good ideas, sometimes. The deep value of an idea depends on the driving energy. If ego energy powers policies and procedures, a lot of people are going to get hurt. One group will come out on top to the detriment of others. It doesn’t have to be like that.
Therefore, when it comes to social issues — we are social creatures — I look at society through the lens of heart energy. The corporate life of society and the governance of society is not dissociated from how we operate as individuals. It’s all how we make sense of what is going on around us, what we take in through our senses. Read the writing on the wall.
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A well-known biblical story illustrates this. King Belshazzar of Babylon chose in ego to look around him and say he should have the best and offer it to his guests. They defiled the gold and silver vessels of the temple of Jerusalem. He was king; his kind was in control.
A large contingency, albeit minority population, of Jews lived there. When judgment was pronounced in the appearance of the famous writing on the wall, Belshazzar once again played his power card and declared Daniel, the wise Jewish man who could interpret the writing, as the third most powerful man in the kingdom. Daniel declined. He used heart energy to make sense of what he saw: Belshazzar’s kingdom was going to be destroyed and divided up.
Heart energy should guide wise governance, which means it should include all, consider freedom and equality for all, and should not damage basic human rights so one group can do whatever the hell it wants to. In other words, love guides.
For people to die or be in misery or lose everything to preserve life because medical care is too expensive is ridiculous when we have the resources. For wealthier people and corporations to not pay a huge chunk of taxes is not acceptable — it’s such a simple concept that helps others. Hunger, war, hatred of immigrants, disenfranchisement of minority citizens, continued abuse of Indigenous Peoples in various ways, policies that destroy the environment, species, and ecosystems — all of this results from Ego energy. People are not making sense of their senses; they aren’t reading the writing on the wall.
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The current turmoil in this land and around the world is the handwriting on the wall. Fear predominates over love. The fear of the Other must cease, and it is fear that establishes systemic racism and oppression and biases. The fear of not having enough drives the destruction of the environment through greedy economic reasoning. The fear of losing control instigates nationalism that causes war. Ego energy rationalizes fear. People don’t learn from history. They fail to understand the writing on the wall.
We could and should. Our Heart operating system can infuse and use love in our governments, legislation, and policies. In general, we won’t and don’t. However, hope exists. More and more are awakening and using their senses to read the writing on the wall.
The time has come to employ Heart if we wish to choose a different path. Ego never gives a permanent solution. It’s not wrong, necessarily, just inadequate.
Heart energy provides us with the qualities of life we desire: love, fulfillment, significance, innovation, creativity, joy, intimacy, and much more. Heart energy should be fueling our government, relationships, and society.
Read the writing on the wall. What do you want? What does society need? What does your Heart say?

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