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We complain about Donald Trump. But we are all Trump. Can we find the inured parts of us that judge people of other religions, races, social statuses; the parts of us that are averse to individuals because our governments are at war with one another; the parts of us that feel entitled because we are more fortunate than others or richer; the parts of us that believe, and this is truly heartbreaking, that the Divine loves us more?
Our institutions are simply a manifestation of our tendency to polarize others. And Trump is a projection of the collective, our collective. And until we drop the ego and remember that we are born into this ideological and cultural matrix, then we will continue to blame Trump and other politicians, other countries, other religions and other people for our own demons. Always the other, never ourselves. Trump is here to remind us that this is what we will see in the world unless we transcend our intolerance towards each other. And voters will never stop voting for those perceived as crooked as long as this conditioning resonates within us.
Trump did not galvanize voters; he merely brought them to the surface for all to see. Each time he said something injurious to love and acceptance, his ratings went higher and higher. In essence, Trump in power is the world's fault. And racism is our fault, not Trump's. And it is certainly, certainly - might I add certainly - not the fault of Americans. We have no right to blame American voters for issues we have around the planet. Nor can we label Trump voters as racist. The whole world is a yin and yang of racist and open people. Everywhere.
We have the same issues of racism and superiority here in the Arabian Gulf; a Gulf we refuse to call Persian, because of our belief that human beings - or institutions, for that matter - own a body of water. We impose many restrictions on immigrants and those of other nationalities and religions too. We may not threaten to build a wall to stop them, but declining a visa to people of certain ethnic backgrounds is a wall, metaphorically speaking. Many expatriates here are very upset because their families cannot visit them as their salaries are too low or their countries are considered security threats. This is our version of a wall. And now we are banning expats from a certain area in the departure zone at the airport, fueling resentment and divisiveness towards us, as nationals are exempt from this law. Again, our version of a wall.
Not just in America and the Middle East. Trump is in Africa, South America, Australia, Asia and Europe too. If we had human communities in Antarctica, we would have a Trump there as well. And Trump infiltrates our social circles and schools as well. But most importantly, we must remember that Trump was born inside of us, and he will continue to live among us for as long as we either create or are slaves to matrices that teach human beings that the world is a paradigm of us versus them; for as long as we continue to believe our thoughts and act upon them; for as long as we continue to go to war with a perceived outer enemy. Trump is within us, disguised as beliefs. And we have become immune to the toxicity of these beliefs, because many others in our respective communities adhere to them too.
So instead of criticizing Trump, we should be grateful for all the Trumps of the world, for they guide us to our inner world. They shake us out of complacency. They provoke us to transform and heal. They provide us with an awareness of the innate prejudices that pollute us and our societies. And instead of criticizing racists and bullies, we invite them to embrace differences by shifting our own thought processes. We are invited to heal one another instead of ostracizing those who shatter our dreams of universality. How much more trauma do we need to remember that we are all sentient beings? How much more fear do we need to transcend to love?
We are the other.
Fellow humans: We don't need to be more open to the other; we need to remember we are the other. And that we can only change our collective nightmare and eradicate racism when we become flashlights in our own diamond mines and stand peacefully against ideologies that teach us otherwise. And please world, let us stop blaming Americans for the darkness within all of us. We are all hurting. Americans are us. We all share this planet together with our fellow creatures. And we can only transcend as one.
As for those who feel they have already transcended their darkness, this is your time to shine, oh beacons of light! The world welcomes your work now more than ever to assist us in collective healing. Viva the shift!
By Nejoud Al-Yagout
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