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The Vote
G&G Wellness
Vote From the Soul
by Tony Brasunas
As I walked into my polling place - a local school auditorium - on the fifth of November, I saw all those kindred souls. The bold, the beautiful, the voters.
I love voting. I do it as often as I'm legally allowed. It feels like
speaking the truth, and the raw power, the electric charge, that comes from
speaking the truth has never failed to thrill me. I've never developed a
tolerance for this drug.
There is the deep sigh in the soul - a sigh of health and peace - that
comes when we allow the truth to course up through our hearts and throats
and out into the world. A shudder of delight and relief comes with the
bodily knowledge that we've chosen honesty and resisted doubt.
The power of truth is a key ingredient in any relationship - with a friend,
spouse, lover, or child - and it follows that it would be essential in a
relationship with a government and elected representative as well.
It was after discovering this that I awoke to truthful voting. And what a
joy it is! In every action we choose to act out of love or out of fear, and I
now vote as an act of love. Sure, I might not love an option on every
ballot - though I often do - but I can always choose to speak and vote
truth.
Moreover, bringing
unstinting truth to voting and political expression nourishes not only your own
well-being but the well-being of your community as well, through richer engagement. Like a drop in a placid lake, your actions reach distant shores. Ultimately voting your truth and
expressing your heartfelt beliefs builds a foundation for greater things, and creates a model for an assertive and healthy relationship with the universe around you.
We all are on our own journey towards self-knowledge, and as truth sustains us along the way, politics can be one of our steps along this path, one of our opportunities for truth.
Sometimes we are asked to do more. Sometimes we must go beyond just voting and engage ourselves fully in our communities as patriotic citizens. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and countless others found themselves in this situation, and rose to the call. They took this step not without effort, but without trepidation.
Also, occasionally we must act pragmatically, and occasionally we must vote pragmatically. But in the
end it is idealism and not pragmatism -- love and not fear -- that carries
us up; and it is truthful voting not fearful voting that moves the community and the nation forward.
In the end, speaking the truth is the path to joy and is the best choice in all but the rarest of cases. And it is the same with voting. Vote truth and enjoy the electric thrill that it
brings to yourself and your community.
Tony Brasunas is publisher of Garlic & Grass.
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