COVID-19 and Humanity's Spiritual Awakening by Rivers Forrest

Author:Rivers, Forrest [Rivers, Forrest]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Conscious Living Media
Published: 2021-02-11T16:00:00+00:00

XV. Real Democracy

​ Monday, May 25, 2020, is a date that will forever be engrained in our consciousness as one when many people finally said, “enough is enough!” On that fateful day, George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was horrifically killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in broad daylight while bystanders pleaded with the officer for over eight minutes to release his knee hold from Floyd’s neck. Floyd’s death, one of the latest high-profile police killings of black people, immediately touched off a fury of protests and riots in major cities across America and throughout the world. In the very first days of the unrest, it became obvious what the twin-issues were for protesters: systemic racism in law enforcement and unaccountable police power.

​ As the protests gained momentum through the summer of 2020, it became apparent that the protesters were also demanding attention on an equally pressing issue: the practice of real democracy. Unknowingly, or not, countless men and women in the streets were pointing out the hypocrisy of America calling itself a democracy while systemically oppressing racial minorities. From a spiritual standpoint, too, the mostly peaceful protests were a profound testament to the power and courage of the human soul. As the police responded to these protests with the sadly predictable force of a totalitarian nation, many began to reflect on the crucial link between real democracy and spirituality. These protests have taught us that one cannot exist without the other. They are mutually reinforcing principles of compassion in action. The spiritual values of peace, unity, and love are the foundations of a sustainable and real democracy. In turn, real democracy is the external reflection of those same foundational values put into action.

Without question, COVID-19 has revealed many contradictions in the United States calling itself a democracy. From the open swindling of taxpayers by large corporations through legislation designed as “aid” to American small businesses, to the US Government’s own shameful downplaying of a serious public health crisis to protect political interests, as well as the overwhelming burden of the government ordered shutdowns on the poor and vulnerable, all showed how America falls well short of being called a democracy. However, the killing of George Floyd and the response to the protests by those in power showed beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are not one. This begs the question: What would real democracy in a post-COVID world even look like?

A real democracy would achieve five chief things. First and foremost, it would secure a true and lasting peace between people from all walks of life, between families, between communities, and between nations. This first expectation of a real democracy should really go without saying. If democracy cannot achieve universal peace what is the point of singing its praises at all? Is it any coincidence that all of the greatest social revolutionaries throughout history have sought to link the attainment of peace with the practice of real democracy? The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi,

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