Election Symbolism

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As you may now realize, I consider the outer world of things and experience to be abstract, while the inner world of emotion is literal. Briefly, by way of example, the emotion of anger can be represented by limitless experiences. You can slap me, call me a nasty name, or cut me off with your car and yet the anger remains the same except in degree. So, with this in mind what might the election of Barack Obama symbolize? It may symbolize different things to different people, for we create these mass events jointly, but for our individual reasons.

First, a little about what drove me to cast my vote for Obama. Although I agreed with many of his policies, this is not what ultimately drove my decision. I first saw Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention when he delivered the keynote address. At that moment I knew he would eventually become President of the United States and a great joy accompanied that knowing. In my book, The Forgotten Self, published in 2005, I wrote Obama into the story as President, but ultimately changed his name to a fictional name on the advice of my publisher. I knew he would be President not because of his vast experience, of which he had little at the time, but because of an energy and a wisdom that I had yet to see in others that had run before him. For me this was as legitimate a reason to vote for him as were his policies. I refused to engage in arguments supporting my choice, nor did I engage in dispersions on those that voted for McCain. There are no wrong individual choices and I understand that my truths need not be shared by others.

OK, back to the symbolism of Obama and the election. For much of our history we have called an individual black if they had any genetic linkage to what used to be called the Negro race. This continues even today despite the fact that many African-Americans have varying degrees of Caucasian genetic linkage. There was no doubt that Obama was 50% black and 50% white as his father was a Kenyan. This was as clear a linkage back to Africa as there could be. There being no accidents or coincidences this Kenyan/American joining had to have meaning and purpose. For the blacks in this country that was a clear linkage – whether they thought about it or not – to their heritage, their beginnings in this country. It is no surprise, nor should it be, that our black brothers and sisters voted 94% for Obama. It was a vote of deep emotional feeling, as legitimate a reason for casting a vote as the most rational of reasons. The symbolism of his mixed race is that of inclusion and the acceptance of differences.

It is also meaningful that much of Obama’s early life exposed him to many diverse cultures. It exposed him to differences and how those differences were always trumped by their basic humanity. That is to say that the differences were superficial when compared to the human struggle we all contend with on a daily basis. It grew in him a compassionate heart and a wisdom that those who had not had that exposure were less likely to develop. It created in him a global compassion rather than a tribal compassion that was expressed in his acceptance speech. He understood that as humans we are separated by artificial geographic and geopolitical boundaries. His life, therefore, is symbolic of inclusion, not exclusion, which I understood from his 2005 address when he said, “There are no red states or blue states. There is only the United States.”

I have lived through fifteen elections and I have never seen the emotions that surfaced during this election. I have never seen the youth of this country so energized by a candidate. I have never seen the emotion that I witnessed on the faces of Obama’s supporters; black, white, Hispanic, Asian and Native American. That kind of emotion is not generated by the intellect, but by a deeper source. It is a source that has long been buried by the male dominated intellect. We are now moving into a more balanced energy, where the feminine intuition is gaining strength. Symbolically this represents the rise of the feminine, not the feminine gender, but the feminine energy as represented in the yin/yang symbol of the Tao.

Fear still remained a part of this election as witnessed by the 62% the economy received as the primary concern of the electorate. The war in Iraq and terrorism both received 9%. There is a different dynamic in economic concerns than in our fear of terrorism. Both, however, throw our concerns into the future, which has not occurred in our experience. Symbolically our economy was attacked by Wall Street terrorists, folks that see no connection between their greed and those that suffer from that greed. As long as we believe that we are all separate and that our individual actions do not ripple out and affect everything we will spawn all form of terrorists. But terrorists are our own individual creations, there to remind us of our individual fears, and lack of trust in a beneficent universe.

I see Obama as a reflection of myself, a natural idealist who believes in the good intent of humans as part of our inherent nature. We are not born sinners, nor are we cosmic accidents of a mindless mechanistic universe. We have purpose and value and part of our individual purpose is to ensure that in the pursuit of our own value we add to and enrich the value of all others. So, I did not vote for Obama because of what he could do for me. That would negate my belief that I create all of my reality. I voted for him as a symbol, a symbol of overcoming the odds, a symbol of acceptance, a symbol of inclusion and a symbol that underneath our apparent differences we are all one and of good intent.

Your symbolism for what took place in this historic election may be antithetical to mine, or they may be similar. But, I would end by reminding you that what you hold as truth is true for you alone, even though others may share some of your truths. In this sense your truths are true and not true at the same time. Your truths are not bad. They are your guidelines. They steer you through the course you have chosen to traverse in this life. It is only when we judge our truths as good and other’s truths as bad that our lives begin to fill with conflict. When we try to convince others of the rightness of our truth we have already moved into a defense of self that has never needed defending.
Bill Marshall