It is no understatement to say that the world is in crisis; the rise of demagogues, endless wars, the constant fear of terrorism, massive and deepening poverty and continued and increasing environmental destruction. All of the teleological theories and world-views of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries prophesizing an end to war and the spread of freedom to all the peoples of the world have proven to be at best premature or at worst completely wrong. As we recently left behind one of the bloodiest century in recorded human history and have begun the new century with anticipation and dread, we find the old certainties no longer hold. The world-views that have served us so well over the past few decades and centuries are no longer enough to interpret and act in the world. The categories of “left” and “right”, capitalist and socialist, and the easy answers and accusations that accompany them just don’t do it.

This sense of crisis is nothing new; it is been with us for decades, with recent events bringing it into sharper focus. The need for a new way of interpreting the world around us has both haunted and inspired us for decades. For quite a while there has been disenchantment with the secular world of government and politics, as well as the institutions of organized religion. There is a strong belief that these institutions exist separate from us while at the same time they affect our lives in real and very frightening ways. This has led many people to return to traditional ways of thinking and interacting in the world that not only no longer work but also deepen the crises we face.

We need to explore creative ways to develop a new politics, a politics of transformation, which enable us to alter our perspectives and open us up to new and bold solutions to delve into the connection between politics and spirituality. To explore the ways that spiritual practices that enrich the lives of so many people can be brought into play in our interactions on a local, national and global scale. In my experience a political awareness informed by a deep and open spiritual perspective helps to broaden our understanding and helps to contribute to personal growth. A spiritual practice combined with an engagement in the world can become fuller and more rewarding.

The forging of a connection between the political and spiritual is still not enough when it is guided by the same preconceptions and outdated world views that, and continue to, inform our awareness of the world. What is called for is a new way to look at both spirituality and politics that not only redefines each of them, but also gives us the tools to look at them both in new and forgotten ways.

At their very core, politics and spirituality are essentially about the same thing—the way in which we live our lives as a part of wider and diverse communities. This is an understanding that comes down to us from some of our most sacred texts. In many of the great spiritual works, as well as in the work of some of the earliest political philosophers, the line between the life of the individual and the life of the community vanishes. For example, in the Tao Te Ching, lessons on how to live one’s life share space with lessons on how to rule a country wisely. In the works of the ancient political philosophers, the qualities of a virtuous individual are the same as the qualities of a virtuous community.

An expansive definition of politics portrays it as a process through which individuals with different ideas and different visions of the “good life” can be brought together to reach a collective outcome that makes room for positive results. These decisions do not often come about easily. They often involve a great deal of struggle, and the constant need to reexamine our assumptions and points of view so that we can come to a point of reconciliation, that in time will need to be examined and redefined all over again. This is the same with a spiritual practice. It too is an ongoing struggle to redefine and continually understand who and what we are so that we can be open to transformative and expansive possibilities.