How to Control Election Outcomes

How to Control Election Outcomes

[00:45] The Origins of Governance

Jai Guru Deva. Thank you for listening to my podcast, The Vedic Worldview. I’m Thom Knoles.

In recent times, people have been asking me lots of questions in light of a recent election that’s occurred. I’ve been receiving many inquiries to answer the question about how to control election outcomes. 

People obviously have some interesting illusions there, and I’d like to dispel some of those illusions and help us gain a degree of inner peace and equanimity, evenness, with the whole political show, not just in the United States, but all over the world.

First of all, we have to realize, and I want to reiterate where I’ve done this in other formats, that a government, and I prefer to call it governance, is a thing that comes into being when we have more than 500 people to deal with.

Let’s go back to paleontological times, meaning the early Stone Age—paleontology is the early Stone Age, and Meso is the middle and the latter phase of the Stone Ages—happened when the glaciers melted, or began melting, and the discovery of agriculture occurred. Instead of wandering bands of up to 150 in a tribe, people began to stay put.

And so, bands of people began to conglomerate around things that could be planted and around agronomy—animals that could be kept so you didn’t have to go hunting for them; you could keep them nearby—and collectives began to build.

It just seems to be a fact of the human DNA that although our DNA has not changed appreciably since that time—and in case you’re wondering how much time that is, going back between 10,000 to 12,000 years from now is the time period that we’re talking about—the discovery that arrangements within a tribe about what’s fair and what’s not fair and whose interests are being looked after and who are not could be arranged on a familial basis.

That is to say, about 150 people maximum is about the size that is manageable under a model of family, where you have somebody who is either one or a group of people who are recognized as the leaders of the family, and then you have all of the branching aspects of the tribe.

[03:56] The Concept of Democracy

Once we start getting over 150, things get complicated because we can’t remember any more names than that at any given time. And we start getting into 200, 400, 500. Five hundred is the point at which it’s considered by most sociologists that some form of non-familial governance needs to dawn.

By non-familial, it doesn’t mean they can’t be family members, but it does mean that people whose names you can’t remember or don’t even necessarily know are going to be seeking some kind of guidance about what’s fair.

What is it that’s fair? The fair distribution of goods and services. And so, we’ll call this phenomenon the dawn of governance. The dawn of governance is the dawn of the need for a populace to delegate to a body—a governing body—the role of making rules, or if we want to sound a little bit more strict, we can say laws.

And so, then comes the whole question about how is this managed? Is it monarchical? Meaning, there’s somebody who is a king or a queen who is the unquestionable head of the state—state meaning the status—head of state. Or, at least if not the head of state, could be the head of governance, the head of the government, even if there’s a separate head of the status, the state.

Over a period of a few thousand years, the concept of democracy came into play. But with or without democracy, where we’re allowing individuals to have a say in how things are run and individuals have input into what it is that’s fair—fair and reasonable governance of a group of people—even in monarchy, even in dictatorship, there is, nonetheless, a very interesting statement that can be made, and I’d like to make that statement: governance is an innocent—and boy, people don’t like it when I say innocent—but innocent reflection of the average state of consciousness of the collective that they’re governing.

[06:46] The Average of the Collective

So, what we see at the top—the superstructure—is a reflection of the infrastructure. The superstructure is not able to continue on playing the role of governance if, in fact, it doesn’t represent the average state of consciousness of a collective. 

When we are in a situation where the particulars of who it is we would like to play that role of governance, and if we don’t like them—and it’s rare for anybody at the top to be liked universally anyway—but if we don’t like them, effectively what we’re doing is saying we don’t like the collective.

So, the collective is that which generates and creates that superstructure of governance. The people in it, the personalities in it, the whole thing is a reflection of what the average—and I’m going to say average here, not the outliers, not the thinkers, not the ones who are certain that they know better and all that—we’re talking about the average, the average of a collective, a group.

So, when somebody who is in that role—and it’s never just one person; it’s a crowd of people, but there may be one person to whom the crowd all tip their hats, as it were—when they fail to continue representing the average state of the collective, then either by, in democratic societies, scheduled elections, or in Commonwealth countries, called elections, or in dictatorial, via revolution, there’s a change.

[08:55] Step Out of Mistaken Intellect

In a change of leadership, the idea is for the collective to have its representation at the top reflect back to the people. Previous governance, not particularly suitable to the average, and so then new governance, saying, “How’s that?” Back to the average.

And so, what we seem to believe in, which at the commencement of my little monologue here, I referred to as the illusion—the illusions that are suffered by people who are disgruntled and sometimes desperately disgruntled—is the illusion that, in fact, the leaders, on their own, are the cause of either the successful embrace of happiness of the people who are being governed or they are the cause of the misery of the people who are being governed.

So, my role here is to give you the Vedic worldview. The Vedic worldview is that if you want change at the top, the first place to look is at yourself squarely.

Looking at yourself squarely means, first of all, stepping out of mistaken intellect. Intellect mistaken is a classic Vedic idea. In the ancient language of Sanskrit, it is styled as pragya aparadha, which generally is pronounced like this, all as one word, pragya aparadha, pragya aparadha.

So pragya aparadha means the mistaken intellect, the intellect that is making unsustainable conclusions, coming to unsustainable conclusions about the nature of my innermost identity. This is not the identity of doings, like, “I’m a carpenter. That’s my identity.” Or, “I’m a gay man. That’s my identity.” Or, “I’m a Democrat. That’s my identity.”

Those all have to do with thinking and doing. Those are not your ultimate truth. That is not the true capital S, Self. The capital S, Self, is the underlying Unified Field Consciousness, the state of Being, capital B. Being is not a state that’s created by Vedic Meditation.

[11:48] Ultimate Identity

When we practice Vedic Meditation, our mind settles down and goes beyond thought and touches the Unified Field Consciousness. It touches and identifies with the underlying field of Being, which is not just our own little personal patch of de-excitement. The underlying field of Being is us touching upon and identifying with the one indivisible whole Unified Field, that is the source of all manifest reality.

It’s an unmanifest field like colorless sap within a flower. The colorless sap, though without color and without fragrance, can make itself into a fragrance. It can make itself into a color like green in the stem. It can make itself into a variety of shapes and textures.

The pink petal is made of nothing but colorless sap. The green stem is made of nothing but colorless sap. The thorn is made of colorless sap. The fragrance is made of colorless sap. 

So, the colorless sap of the flower is a good analogy for the one indivisible whole, conscious field of Being out of which all sub-nuclear particles move into wave function from waves into apparent particles, all of the interactions between the particles, and then ultimately, if we skip about a thousand steps, the particles that make up the cells of your brain that give you the capacity to think thoughts.

So, the Unified Field is the source of the thoughts that you’re having right now. It’s the source of the body that your consciousness inhabits. Your body is not the source of your consciousness. Your brain is not the source of your consciousness.

Your consciousness conceives the cellular function. The consciousness constructs the cells of the body. The consciousness governs the cells of the body. The consciousness prints itself out as a body. Your body is a printout of your consciousness, and your consciousness has its Ultimate identity, Ultimate, capital U, Ultimate identity in the Unified Field.

[14:43] The Importance of Direct Experience

So, how do we change the style of governance?

First of all, we have to stop suffering from the illusion, “I’m a carpenter,” or “I’m a whatever, business person, or a flibbertigibbet, or whatever I think I am.” These are thinkings and doings. These are not the fundamental identity of Being.

It turns out that that fundamental identity of Being, once realized, meditation doesn’t create it; it reveals it. Meditation reveals the pre-existing, underlying field of Being, which is your source. Once you realize it, that means to have a direct experience of it. And direct experience doesn’t mean you think a lot about it. This isn’t just, “I think a lot about it.”

About a couple of months ago, I was dining out in Los Angeles with one of my closest friends, and someone who was a fan of this podcast—a couple—came over to my table and asked if I was Thom Knoles.

“Yes,” I said. They said, “Oh, we love your podcast. Absolutely adore it. We’ve listened to all the episodes repeatedly. And thank you so much for doing it, Thom.” I said, “Jai Guru Deva, you’re so welcome.” “Jai Guru Deva,” they said.

I said, “By the way, have you been enjoying your practice of Vedic Meditation?” “Oh,” they said, looking at me surprised, “we haven’t learned Vedic Meditation.”

I said, “Oh, did you notice me alluding to it on my podcast that Vedic Meditation is a jolly good idea to actually have the direct experience and for this not merely to be an exercise of beautiful thoughts laid out by the Veda, as expressed by me, but there’s a direct experience that you could be having.”

“Oh,” they said, as if they were surprised, “is there someone here in Los Angeles who could give us a course?” I said, “Yes, my partner with whom I was dining is a teacher, qualified teacher of Vedic Meditation, and I’ll introduce you to him when he comes out of the restroom. Either that person or any one of the other 20 or 30 Initiators of Vedic Meditation who are in Los Angeles just hoping you’ll call them or text them or email them or look at their website.”

Direct experience is an essential component of all of this that I’m telling you.

[17:31] Be a Satisfactory Citizen

Direct experience of what? Stepping out of the boundaries of the assumptions you’re making about who you are and what you are, and experiencing the state of Being. In this, we discover the state of Being is a field of supreme inner contentedness and a field of infinite capability.

All thoughts that can possibly come, come from that field. I’ve said in other episodes that the thing that distinguishes you now, and your status now, from being either happy and fulfilled, or not, could be as small as one thought component. One thought. You have one thought, that is a genius thought, which, if acted upon, will awaken and open up a whole world of possibilities for you.

When are you going to get that thought? That one thought, the one thought that is the aha moment, the eureka moment for you. All thoughts come from the one indivisible whole consciousness field of Being.

So, the first step to having what is, for you, more satisfactory governance is for you to be a more satisfactory citizen. This is the absolutely uncontroversial and incontrovertible first, the very first point of reference. Are you being everything that you can possibly be for yourself and for the world around you?

Alright, if we’re doing that, that means we’re practicing Vedic Meditation morning and evening. It’s a technique we do for 20 minutes each morning and each evening. It’s a strategy.

It’s the strategy for unfolding the Totality of everything that we could be and can be for ourselves in interaction with Nature and thereby to radiate life for all others to enjoy.

[19:57] Dharma – Your Personal Role in the Evolution of Things

If we’ve satisfied that criterion, then there are other criteria. To what extent are we, on a daily basis, engaging in our dharma, D-H-A-R-M-A.

Dharma—I’ve analyzed this in other episodes, but let’s revisit it for a moment. Your personal role in the evolution of things. And we’re going to now put some temporal, time-related value on this. Your personal role for the moment in the evolution of things. For the moment.

Because what it is that is dharmic—there we’re inventing an adjective on the word dharma—what it is that’s dharmic for you to be doing could be different in every few minutes of an epoch. In one fifteen-minute—let’s just use fifteen for one example—in one fifteen-minute epoch, what it is that you need to be doing and thinking, or non-doing, maybe resting, what it is that it’s appropriate for you to be doing or to omit doing is not something you can find in a rule book.

It has to come from your deep inner consciousness field. And so, an action which would have been successfully attuned with your personal role in the evolution of everything 15 minutes ago might have, in the next 15 minutes, changed utterly. It’s possible.

And so, we have to have that openness, that stability in the field of Being, and the adaptability to meet the new need of the time because the need of the time is changing every moment.

[22:01] I’m Not in Charge of What I’m Experiencing

So, what is it that thinking, or taking thought into action, is doing to bring about an effective dharmic life? Am I leading an effective dharmic life?

If the answer is, “I don’t know,” then we need more practice from meditation because what it is that is appropriate for you to be doing at any given time will, in grades, be revealed by your twice-daily practice of going beyond thought entirely and identifying with the one indivisible whole field that is shaping whatever it’s bringing into manifestation.

It’s shaping it and reshaping it every few seconds or minutes or days like that. And then you are a means whereby this is going to be carried out. To what extent do you find yourself to be self-reliant and self-sufficient?

If that answer—nobody’s 100%—but if that answer is a high percentage, then probably you are an ideal citizen. How many other ideal citizens do you find around you when you interact with the world?

You know, you go over the road to the local green grocer and you see other people in there buying their vegetables and fruits and things, in interaction with the green grocer. As you cast your awareness around, how many people are you looking at who have a sufficient degree of self-reliance, self-sufficiency, that they are actually in charge of what they’re experiencing?

So, if you’re in charge of what you’re experiencing, we have to ask the question, how many others around you are in charge of what they’re experiencing? If we are living in a community that feels largely, “I’m not in charge of what I’m experiencing. Only the government is in charge of what I’m experiencing.

“I’m relying entirely upon government to give me what I need, or maybe I’m relying 50 percent on government, or maybe 20 percent on government, but I’m relying on government to give me what I need in order to have my basic needs met, and to somehow inch my way forward progressively in a sequential elaboration of betterment in my life and the life of my family, it’s all government.”

[24:50] Escaping an Impossible Situation

Then we have an impossible situation because government is only a reflection of the average of the population. And if government is a reflection of the average of the population, which is what it is, then, if the average of the population is feeling not self-sufficient and waiting on government to do everything, what does that mean?

We’re waiting upon an agency that is no more capable of bringing fulfillment to us than we are capable of bringing fulfillment to ourselves. As a collective grows and grows in self-sufficiency, as a collective becomes less and less absorbed in the neediness identity. As a collective, and this has to happen individually.

Individually. This is what it is. What we say, this fabulous word that’s been invented in the West—grassroots. Grassroots meaning individual by individual. You want a forest to be green? All the trees have to be green. There’s just no other way. You can’t have 99 percent brown trees and hide them all behind one green tree.

A forest is a forest. Its color, its health, and its whole ecosystem is dependent on the health of the individual trees. We have a forest of humans, a sociology. In order for it to be healthier, it starts with the individual. And who’s the first individual we start with? We start with ourselves. Us, individually, getting our own consciousness into the right state.

To the extent that we do that—10%, 40%, 60%—to the extent that all of the individuals in a collective begin becoming more and more self-realized, self-realized means you have that direct experience of the deep inner Self, you awaken that, you draw upon that, you get a hundred percent of your creative intelligence flowing. 

You awaken that brain of yours, which on average people use about two percent of their brain’s available computing power because 98 percent of the brain’s available computing power is being used to store accumulated stress and to maintain out-of-date reckonings.

So, to awaken that full brain, to rid yourself of accumulated stress, when we have a sufficient number of individuals—and it won’t take absolutely everybody—our reckoning in the Vedic worldview is about one in a hundred.

About one in a hundred people awakening to their fullest potential will be a sufficient saturation point, a tipping point, that will cause a cascade of change in the world. Ninety-nine percent of the people can completely ignore the message of Vedic Meditation.

[28:14] A Critical Mass for a Phase Transition

As long as one in a hundred takes up the wonderful body of knowledge and begins living it, exercising it, realizing it, and actualizing it, we can create a tipping point—a sufficient saturation that will cause a phase transition socially.

When we have a phase transition socially, the superstructure, that thing we call government or governance as I prefer to call it, will spontaneously also go through change. The superstructure is a reflection of the average consciousness state. If we raise the average, starting with ourselves, then the superstructure at the top will begin speaking and behaving in ways that are more effective and receiving greater and greater recognition, long-term recognition.

You can get recognition short term by doing almost anything. You can be a complete goofball for 15 minutes and have the whole society applauding you because you’re a good comedian. But can you actually, as someone who has been given the role of governance, sustainably reflect back to the populace the degree of self-reliance that they have earned for themselves? In other words, to what extent is a populace creating impossibly complicated governance issues? Or to what extent is a collective creating the potential for frictionless flow?

[30:06] The Temperature of the Collective

We need to step out of the illusion that government is anything but a thermometer. You look at any government and really what you’re looking at is the temperature of the collective. What’s the temperature of the collective? If you don’t like what you see at the top, it means that you don’t like the temperature that’s being measured in your diagnostic of a collective.

It’s the collective. That means it’s you, your family, your neighbors, then collections of neighbors, collections of communities, collections of states, and collections of the nation. The totality of that collection. What are you personally doing about it right now?

This was a question my master, Maharishi, asked me once in a very pivotal moment that was pivotal politically and historically. “What are you personally doing about it right now?” 

His question was intended to cause me to reflect on the extent to which I am becoming self-sufficient and to what extent I am suffering from the illusion that the government is going to come in and make everything okay, and give everybody peace.

We’ve suffered from this illusion for multiple millennia: if we just get the right person or the right people into the seats of power, then fulfillment will be the product for an entire collective, or disaster will be the product for an entire collective.

We’ve believed in this for so many millennia, and it’s kind of ridiculous that we continue to believe in it. Governments do not have the power magically to transform a collective.

[32:14] Radiate Life for All to Enjoy

So, to the initial question, how to control the outcome of an election, first of all, let’s get rid of the word “control.”

We need to effortlessly settle down into our true Nature, awaken that, radiate life for all to enjoy by living our dharma, and be the solution ourselves individually, rather than waiting for government to come in and solve the problems. 

Governments are not designed to do it. Governments only have the capability that a collective has, and so the idea that wonderful things are now going to happen because some percentage of the population ends up with a person in the so-called seat of power, which isn’t really very powerful at all, actually—historically, we’ve seen that. 

Someone has the seat of power, supposedly, and that’s going to change everything. Why do we keep holding our breath like this?

Generation after generation, it’s been demonstrated that leaders are powerless to do anything but reflect back the average consciousness state of a collective.

That’s really the way we look at this from the Vedic Worldview.

Jai Guru Deva.