…. The system demands
  that the whole become parts,
  and that the parts masquerade as the whole —
  that each special interest act like it is The General Interest.

And the system demands, as well,
  that when a part wins, when it is a majority,
  we acknowledge it as the Whole, as US.

It is all fantasm,
  all a lie, I tell you —
  The Emperor’s New Clothes —
  a loudly proclaimed virtual nothing
  that drains into part-isanship
  all the energies and gifts we could use
  to co-discover our wisdom together
  as whole communities,
  as a healed and healthy world.

So the majoritarian system consumes and digests
  the righteous passions of our well-divided interests,
  motivating and shape-shifting and battling
  in its search for majority support
  and thus victory
  and thus the dominance and resources
  of concentrated power controlled by the victor,
  forcing other interests into loser status
  of “minority”
  so they will fight to win back the reins.

And thus the battle rages back and forth.

Or at least seems to.

Meanwhile those who own and benefit from the game itself
  (who support both sides to maintain access to
  the public treasury,
  the natural wealth of The Commons,
  and the game-shaping activity
  of deciding public policy)
  continue to design the game to be losable
  only by the players,
  not the owners,
  and in the process lose their own access to heaven
  for the eye of the needle is far too small
  to admit their heavily laden camels.

Meanwhile the general interest, the common good,
  not only loses
  but is not even part of the game, part of the conversation,
  except insofar as all sides claim it as theirs.

With “God on our side”
  the partisan parts abscond with the holy whole.

God only knows,
  this won’t change
  until the players stop playing the game
  and change it.

And if the Whole could speak, it might well say
  that changing the game is not confined to
  changing the rules of majoritarianism
  so that
  the Rule of the Biggest Part
  is more legitimately seen as
  the Rule of The Whole.
  No.

Changing the game is about enabling the Rule of the Whole.

Changing the game may require helping majoritarianism
  work fairly for real majorities, yes,
  but only as a stepping stone —
  because it IS only a stepping stone.

Ultimately, changing the game is not about the majority.
  It is about the real Whole,
  about the wisdom that arises from turning
  towards each other
  instead of against each other
  or away.

  It is about striving
  towards the rule of, by and for The Whole,
  a whole which includes Them
  and Us
  Together.

The Rule of the Whole
  is a horizon, an invitation, an adventure.
  We will never reach it, it is not a place to stop.
  It is so deep, so wide,
  so ever-changing into newness
  that we can only live it as a journey
  or a conversation.
  When we seek it, when we travel it,
  when we accept that we are pioneers of life’s emergent wisdom,
  we meet each Other
  and we hear
  and are heard
  and new things become possible
  that were never possible before.
  Because when our differences are heard
  our diverse parts discover their kinship
  and their power to dance creatively together.

Then the Whole can find its voice
  and its will.

And it will —
  if it is given a form to manifest in,
  if it is given a wiser democratic system,
  one that brings us together
  and taps the font of our buried co-creativity.

The system that holds us in thrall
  is built on not hearing each other
  so that we will remain a
  part.

  The system that frees us
  will be built on hearing each other
  so that we can expand
  through each other’s eyes and lives
  to see more and become
  ever more truly whole
  together.

So the sacred secret strategy is this:
  The game of the whole
  cannot be won by any part
  but only by the Whole.
  That is the only game
  that We the People
  can win.

Truly, as sure as the sun is setting:
  That is the only game
  that We the People
  can win.

On that path,
  control and rightness
  cease to claim our passion.
  Instead,
  our hearts, minds and spirits
  dedicate themselves together to create
  not just a world that works for all,
  but the means by which the world can create
  a world that works for all,
  over and over again,
  born from the gifts of all,
  evolving forever from the lives of all
  toward the dreams of all,
  knowing that
  It is All that Matters. 

For the sake of the sunrise
  we are called:

We are All.
  In This.
      Together.

Tom Atlee
 Nov 6, 2002

—

Out beyond ideas
 of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
 there is a field.
 I’ll meet you there.

— Rumi