USA Is Spiritually Bankrupt

I keep reading “This is not who we are as a country,” and yet this is, apparently, exactly who we are.  We are a spiritually bankrupt nation. While not every single person is in spiritual free-fall, collectively we are.  Here are just a few of the signs:

Operating from fear rather than love. This often takes the form of withdrawing behind the protection of rationality, moving into an intellectual, hypothetical realm when confronted with income and opportunity disparities, overt injustice, and sobbing children.

Putting stuff before people. We prioritize material over spiritual connections and place tasks before people in order to protect ourselves from feeling vulnerable. We have more storage units than affordable housing, each of us probably knows someone who hoards, and we shop and sell our stuff for entertainment rather than create music, art, or converse with each other. It’s easy to be in control when organizing a closet or shopping for the perfect item, much scarier to talk to people about their lives, listen to hard stories, and be present to radically different views.

Being materially comfortable but unwilling to share. When the Syrian refugee crisis began, I wanted each one of us in this wealthy nation with a spare bedroom to host a family for as long as needed, knowing that act of generosity would benefit our homes and communities for decades to come. Instead, our country admitted a tiny number of people in need.

Holding imaginary lines (borders) above human connection. Borders, like money and laws, are human constructs that can be changed when they no longer serve a life-giving purpose. That people are now traumatized because they are asking for help at our borders (at lower numbers than ever, by the way) demonstrates our spiritual bankruptcy.

Good news! Spiritual bankruptcy is reversible but only when it is acknowledged, which is a very humbling process. In fact, humility is the essence of spiritual fitness, and the USA has lacked that quality almost from its inception. The roots of today’s crisis are in the founding of this nation—genocide of Native people, systematic separation and destruction of those cultures and families, enslavement of Africans, separation of those families and destruction of those languages and spiritual practices. Our founders did not approach difference with curiosity and a willingness to learn, and that arrogance and entitlement persists today. It’s what keeps the Electoral College in place rather than one person-one vote, which has reversed two elections.

Becoming spiritually fit requires a paradigm shift of magnitude.  What restores a spiritually bankrupt state of being? Love. Hope. Humility. Responsibility. Awareness. Accountability.  If this is not the America we want to be, then we need to articulate that vision, use art and creative acts to imagine what we DO want, and create just laws that keep in check the worst of human qualities, such as greed and fear-based exclusion.

What might a well-nourished spirit do? 

If we had the courage to heed our hearts, many of us might head south to hold babies, comfort toddlers and free parents detained for the simple act of asking for help. We would witness in fierce and loving silence every single act our US gestapo, ICE, takes, and awaken the humanity in those guards who’ve been ordered not to hug a sobbing two year old. Those who conduct this president's diabolical plan to dismantle the remaining shreds of our democracy need to know that more people want to give, love, and connect than retreat behind a wall.  We, the most militarized nation on Earth, will not fund a new branch of the military. 

Waiting for permission, a leader, a movement to take action may be not be spiritually bankrupt, but it is spiritually timid. Wave after wave of loving bodies showing up during hard times can restore our humanity and reclaim our souls.