Correct and sufficient government

Most bad government has grown out of too much government.    John Sharp Williams

In a clairvoyant reading given by my first spiritual teacher, Rev. Mario Schoenmaker, I was advised to avoid politics. Despite this sage guidance, I wish to draw parallels between the three levels of government in Australia, the three levels of our minds, and the problems of both.

We are governed in this country at Federal, State and Local levels. Current conflicts within and between the States/Territories and the Federal government, around handling the Covid-19 situation, highlight the amount and complexity of political management that has developed over the years. Some argue that this ‘tripling up’ has led to a bloated bureaucracy of excessive cost, controls, taxation and red tape.

Psychologically, our nation of self is ruled by the conscious, subconscious and superconscious levels. Freud argued that the superego (moral awareness) developed out of the ego (conscious “reality principle”, being socially appropriate), which itself grew out of the primal forces of the id (subconscious “pleasure principle”). Three levels of psyche constantly in conflict with each other due to their different needs and perspectives.

The psychology outlined in A Course in Miracles turns this upside down, stating that consciousness (separated past/future egoic mind) came from stepping away from our natural existence as superconscious ‘Knowing/Now/Oneness’. Beneath the accumulated residue we push into the subconscious mind is the deeper reality of our connection with everyone and everything else.

Politically, our country may do better if the middle layer were removed. Imagine (if you can!) wise, mature leadership at the Federal (superconscious) level, guided by grassroots local government (subconscious level) inclusive of all constituents and respectful of our interconnection and mutual reliance. Imagine the removal of the burdensome, egoic middle layer (which fears its irrelevance and obsolescence, thus demanding power and control), simplifying and clarifying the entire system.

Similarly, our mind works better when we reduce (and ultimately relinquish completely) the fear-based noise of the ego. Miscreated from the forgetting of Self, this scared little thought becomes a tyrant, dictating our lives at whatever the cost to ensure its own survival.

He [Christ/Love/Wisdom of the superconscious] lives within you in the quiet present, and waits for you to leave the past behind and enter into the world He holds out to you in love. ACIM T-13.VII.4:9.

Imagine your mind united and whole, governed by the superconscious knowing of your Spiritual Being resting in Truth/Beauty/Goodness, and anchored in the deep unconscious awareness of our inherent connection with all others. Fear corrected, our lives are led by the two great principles of the Master: love the Lord thy God, and love thy neighbour as thyself. When we re-member the super- and unconscious aspects of our Mind, we begin to function again as one coherent Self.

References: A Course in Miracles: Complete & Annotated Edition (Sedona, AZ USA; The Circle of Atonement, 2017).

Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (New York; W.W. Norton, 1933).