Vote for harmony!

Elizabeth Schaefer | from the Christian Science Sentinel

It was a sight to behold—a liberal US senator from up North and a Southern conservative congressman sitting down together around the parlor piano. Neither one could sing particularly well, but they were giving it their best. A scene from days gone by? No, it was one my husband and I witnessed this past summer when friends invited us to join them for dinner.

Although the two men had faced each other on opposite sides of negotiations in Congress, they’d developed a friendship over what seemed like the smallest of common threads—boyhood summers in the same area. What they discovered was more than a shared history. They found they held values in common that transcended politics, and this discovery brought a healing balm to the political landscape.

It’s beneficial to get a higher view of basic values and government.

While neither man’s political viewpoint has changed as a result of their friendship, they do bring a respect for each other to the table when doing business. In this day of such strident partisan politics and emotional “hot button issues,” it’s beneficial to step back from the preoccupation over candidates and issues long enough to get a higher view of basic values and government. Such a view can help voters at decision time, too.

What bound these men together were the spiritual qualities that had touched their hearts—the joy, freedom, fullness of life, and love that they both associated with a special place. But because those qualities are spiritual, they are never limited to that one spot. Anyone can experience them at any time because they have their origin in God and are written in every heart. As the book of Jeremiah records it: “After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (31:33).

Christian Science explains the nature of divine law as wholly good and all-powerful. It doesn’t vary from person to person, but is consistent and governs each of us equally.

Mary Baker Eddy explained how God’s law overturns injustice in human affairs: “The vox populi, through the providence of God, promotes and impels all true reform; and, at the best time, will redress wrongs and rectify injustice. Tyranny can thrive but feebly under our Government. God reigns, and will ‘turn and overturn’ until right is found supreme” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 80).

The Latin phrase vox populi or “voice of the people” is used by those in public office to remember to stay true to the voice of the people when considering legislation. But Mrs. Eddy’s use of the term apparently wasn’t limited to popular opinion or simply to the will of the people. Instead, she was using vox populi more in the sense of a spiritual citizenship that causes individuals to seek higher ideals in every detail of life, including government and the election process. You might say it’s that which gives voice to what is written on everyone’s heart—the universal law of God.

The vox populi can also be suffocated when public thought is controlled, manipulated, or misled, and as a result “individual rights are trodden underfoot” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 274). Then the recognition of good is drowned out by voices that seek to gain from a false basis—when sensationalism and fear turn thought away from God’s law.

There are not two governments, the spiritual and the human, but only one—God’s rule.

What can lead to good decisions at the polling booth, so that the vox populi reflects God’s law, rather than suffocates that law? Perhaps the starting point is in discerning that there are not two governments, the spiritual and the human, but only one—God’s rule. Good decision-making requires our being free from dualism.

The supremacy of God’s government becomes clearer with the recognition that human existence is actually entirely a mental experience. What we see as material events are not external happenings but mental pictures that reflect what we are accepting as true about life. As one recognizes and yields to what God is revealing as true and real in any situation, then thought changes. And as thoughts change, what we call the human experience adjusts to better reflect the spiritual reality.

Consequently, I see voting decisions as not about trying to affect some external event, but rather about mentally yielding to divine Truth. It’s less about endorsing a candidate’s stands or personality, and more about sorting out your own thoughts and desires. Feeling decisive can then be the aftereffect rather than the goal of prayer. Effective prayer involves communing with God so that His government is what we actually feel and know in our hearts. Then, the ideas God is continuously supplying show the right steps to take, down to the minutest detail—including which candidate to support.

If at such moments I don’t feel definite, I know I need to keep praying and take those steps that seem most in line with my prayer. “Wisdom in human action begins,” said Mary Baker Eddy, “with what is nearest right under the circumstances, and thence achieves the absolute” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 288).

I pray to be aware that divine law is present and governing.

Difficulty in making decisions can arise from unwittingly accepting that dualistic concept of life—that the human experience is separate from the divine. When faced with difficult decisions, I ask myself, What is this situation declaring about the nature of God? Is it in line with reality, with divine Truth, or is it expressing a flawed sense of life? What is the spiritual law or quality that’s needed here? Then I pray to be aware that God’s presence has always supplied and continues to supply that quality—to be aware that divine law is present and governing. Once the certainty of divine law corrects my focus on the human dilemma, I find specific ways to express the certainty of that law through my actions, in voting and all the details of daily living.

A congressman I know was able to overcome an impasse on a piece of legislation by praying to gain a greater awareness of the unifying nature of God’s law. The bill that he’d been working on faced opposition from another legislator, who had up to that point refused to discuss their differences about the bill. Productive negotiations on the subject seemed to be out of the question. My friend prayed to see the situation in a new light. He said that he wasn’t praying to further his own agenda but to be open to understanding God’s government.

As he prayed, an idea from a Bible verse caught his attention: “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Phil. 2:2). The phrase “being of one accord, of one mind” really stood out to him. He felt at peace and released all desire to try to steer the outcome in a certain direction. If he needed to step away from his position on the bill, he felt he’d be able to do so. He became willing to let the spiritual qualities of unity and harmony take precedence, even if that meant losing on the issue at hand.

God’s law is written on everyone’s heart and brings views that heal.

As he prayed with this Bible verse, he felt inspired to visit the other lawmaker in his office and talk. During that heart-to-heart talk, my friend was able to share openly the ideas that had come to him in prayer. As they talked, the other legislator grew receptive, his position changed, and he agreed to support the legislation. My friend said that he was grateful for the support; but what meant more to him was what he himself gained spiritually—the evidence that God’s law is written on everyone’s heart and brings views that heal.

In this election year, we, too, can challenge a dualistic approach to life and witness the unifying nature of God’s law. We can gain clear direction on what steps to take in the voting booth and the halls of government.

Politics need not be all about points of contention. With purified motives and aims, politics can serve to bring out higher ideals and lead to more harmonious outcomes. Societies will approach this ideal as citizens get beyond the stereotyped sense of politics as a contest of wills, and realize there is something bigger than any one human viewpoint can encompass. That something bigger is the goodwill—or will of divine good—that is universal, impersonal, and unconditional. It is actually God’s love written in each heart.

As the senator from the North said goodbye to his conservative colleague at that summer gathering, he got down on one knee and serenaded all of us with a rendition of the Broadway tune “Love Changes Everything.” From what we felt in our hearts that moment, I’d say his declaration got everyone’s vote!

Beth Schaefer is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in San Antonio, Texas. She’s currently serving as Second Reader of The Mother Church in Boston.