Judi Neal: Oneness, interconnectedness and sacredness seen in voting

I used to be as soon as a whistle blower at a Honeywell protection plant in Illinois the place I labored in human assets. I found that the plant management was knowingly producing defective ammunition and altering ballistics knowledge so the federal government would settle for it and they also would receives a commission bonuses for assembly manufacturing targets. After I reported my discovery internally, my life was threatened, and I needed to disappear for awhile. I turned to non secular literature to assist make sense of how my life had gotten turned the wrong way up. I used to be quickly compelled out of the corporate and had lengthy conversations with God alongside the strains of “Why me, God?” The quiet message I acquired was to belief that I used to be part of one thing larger and that I might come to grasp the aim of this expertise. So I surrendered — and that was the start of my non secular path.

Finally I discovered that I had rights as a whistle blower, and I introduced a lawsuit towards the corporate. The primary day in Seventh Circuit Court docket in Chicago, I requested my legal professionals to hitch me in prayer earlier than the trial started: Neal vs. Honeywell. After we sat down on the desk, one among my legal professionals leaned over to me and stated, “One of many nice issues about our nation is that in a courtroom of regulation, your voice is equal to the voice of a company like Honeywell. You get equal time and have equal rights to make your case.” I keep in mind sitting in that very giant and imposing courtroom room, with all of the symbols of justice across the room, and turning into deeply conscious of how radical that concept was. I used to be one particular person, and I had as a lot energy on this courtroom room as one of many 50 largest corporations on the planet. It was that second that I fell in love with America.

Now I do know a few of you studying this may smirk at how naive I used to be, and the way it’s evident that the system just isn’t honest and isn’t equal. I’ve come to see that. However nonetheless, the essence of democracy is a particularly radical concept in human historical past. It isn’t good, however I am going to take it over the techniques in Russia, Hungary and China.

For me, the essence of democracy in its pure type is a recognition of our oneness, our interconnectedness, and the respect for the sacredness of every particular person, no matter age, gender, quantity of melanin in our pores and skin, socio-economic standing, and all the opposite floor variations. Oneness, interconnectedness and sacredness are non secular ideas. We’re all kids of God (or Allah, or the Universe).

Voting is one other instance of every of us having an equal voice. Everyone knows that the election techniques are lower than good and that those that select energy over justice will attempt to rig techniques of their favor. However to cite Martin Luther King Jr.: “The arc of the ethical universe is lengthy, however it bends in direction of justice.” It may additionally bend in direction of a extra loving and flourishing world for all. Thanks for voting. It’s a non secular apply.

Judi Neal is the retired founding director of the Tyson Heart for Religion and Spirituality within the Office on the College of Arkansas. She can also be a founding member of the International Consciousness Institute and the writer of 10 books on office spirituality and transformation.