I rarely allow myself to be sucked into political debate. However, the imminent referendum in the UK, regarding continued membership of the European Union, is so much in the mass consciousness that even I feel drawn to comment.
For me, the question is not so much whether the UK should remain in or leave the EU. Rather, the question is: Am I, as an individual, a member of the community of European people? If I am, then of course the UK should remain. If I am not, then it would be more appropriate for the country to leave.
Note that my question is not: Do I want to be part of the European community?; rather it is: Do I feel that I am part of the community? It is a more fundamental question about the nature of things, rather than about my personal desires for how I would like things to be.
With this perspective, the question is equivalent to: Am I separate from my fellow human beings? The ego tends to want to answer Yes to this question. Setting aside the ego, answering instead from the spiritual being, it is clear that I am not separate from my fellow beings. When we clearly see that all humans are part of one family, indeed that all beings are part of one being, then it is obvious that the fate of all of us, as individuals, is inextricably intertwined. We are together, whether we like it or not.
Our political energy must be directed at creating structures that recognise the fundamental togetherness of humanity and support cooperation, rather than reinforcing arbitrary and anachronistic separations between human beings – false separations that stir up the ego to hatred and lead eventually to war.
I’ll be voting for the UK to remain in the EU.
