Rosicrusian wisdom

Since tomorrow is Election Day in the United States, we are sharing H. Spencer Lewis' 1936 article on "Cosmic Politics," which remains relevant today:
It is generally understood by all of our members and friends that our organization does not deal in political matters to the extent of advising our membership to support any one political party or any one candidate for any office. So far as political alliances are concerned, our organization remains absolutely neutral and the only thought that any of us give to these matters is to try to determine which of the various candidates for the many, many offices to be filled at each election are best qualified from a universal point of view. We may from time to time express some of our own personal views regarding candidates and political principles, but we have never expected all of our members to adopt our opinions as a matter of course, or as an incident to their membership in the organization.
The mystic and the student of natural philosophy may be inclined to say that politics constitutes a field of activity and study that is entirely outside of his realm, but forgets that the Cosmic is very greatly interested in politics and without a political scheme of some kind the Cosmic could not carry out its universal principles. In the course of many years I have noted with much satisfaction that in any complicated situations the Cosmic intervenes and selects or elects a person to a position who is best fitted to meet the crisis. In fact, in the intervention of the Cosmic, as in instances where the Creator intervenes to settle a much mooted point, we have a distinct revelation of the political acumen, the political understanding, and superior comprehension of things political here on earth.
The cyclic birth of a great avatar in each nation, the periodical rise of a great leader to guide the thoughts of all people, and the powerful influence of a savior of humanity's best interests throughout the ages clearly points to a supreme, divine, omnipotent comprehension of our needs, and a dependable intervention on the part of God and the Cosmic forces when we are in need of superior guidance.
This does not mean, however, that each one of us should fail to study the situations that have arisen from our own attempts to control our worldly affairs. With the human error that is inevitable, we make mistakes from time to time and these mistakes must be corrected and this lies in our own hands to a great extent. Inasmuch as we have taken unto ourselves the prerogative of creating laws for governing ourselves and our fellow beings, and inasmuch as we have also assumed a superior position in interpreting the Creator's universal laws and applying them in a specific way, we have assumed a responsibility that we cannot lightly cast aside or pass on to God and the Cosmic when he himself must work out the problem. For this reason, if no other, each individual should give serious thought to the selection of candidates for such offices as control the administration of man-made laws, or the working out of new laws and the interpretation of them.
We can do our best in this regard by keeping in mind the political attitude which must be that of the Cosmic. Certainly the Cosmic does not take into consideration the religious race, or color distinctions which we have magnified to such great artificial importance. In the sight of the Creator all of the children on earth are of one human family, and regardless of race or color or of religious faith, our worldly problems are much alike and can be solved only by a common understanding and a common application of sensible interpretations of fundamental principles.
We should therefore analyze each political situation from its international and universal point of view rather than from its distinctly local point of view, and each candidate for office should not be analyzed from any limited, narrow, or local situation. A mayor of a small city is not just a ruler or administrator of the interests within the confines of the city, but he or she becomes a member of a more or less universal hierarchy of worldly rulers, and his or her actions, decrees, rulings, decisions, interpretations and evolving ideas cannot be separated from our universal interests. At any hour of the day during the term of administration he or she may become an important national figure or even an international influence. Certainly his or her influence upon the people within his or her own city can become of nation-wide importance. A President of the United States is not merely an administrator of the interests of these United States alone, but becomes a part of the international scheme of administration and we must consider his qualifications to meet and act with the international problems that will arise along with the local ones.
And in analyzing the individual we must not be guided by party ties and affiliations nor by promises, no matter how sincerely and honestly they may be made before election. We must consider what tendencies may be in future situations that are not anticipated or unexpected at the present time. We must judge him or her not by what he or she wants to do or desires to do in the future but what he or she may be capable of doing under stress or in circumstances now unknown. It is probably true that the average political candidate is anxious to give a better administration than his predecessor and tries to make his administration a monument to his integrity, goodness, honesty, and creative powers. But this desire, this honest intent, is not the most important thing that we should consider. We must analyze his or her character, abilities, methods of thinking, and fundamental appreciation of Cosmic and universal laws.
Throughout the United States and in many parts of North America and elsewhere in the world we see the wildest possible activities in political circles. We shall hear and read of contentions, arguments, disparaging remarks regarding one or the other of each classification of candidates, and bombastic promises for the future. There are millions of voters who will blindly vote for the one or the other of the many candidates either with the belief that all are good or all are bad, and any attempt to select one as better than the other is a useless waste of time or that it makes little difference who is elected inasmuch as political influences, conniving and underhanded scheming will control the candidate's actions regardless of his claims. This is a wrong way to look at the matter, the wrong way to vote inasmuch as it fosters the very situation that is so seriously criticized. There have been candidates in the past who were elected to office on the basis of their promises, and they have sacrificed their future success and fame in remaining steadfast to the promises made and in fulfilling their obligations regardless of all pressure from the outside and all temptations.
We can encourage men and women of fine character and fine mind to take an interest in political matters by showing in our manner of voting that we are using discrimination, that we are approaching the subject prayerfully, analytically, and Cosmically.
There is no greater power on earth of a mundane nature than that of public opinion. It is a complementary and secondary power to Cosmic law. If all human beings would unite at this time in a demand for universal peace by thinking only of peace and of brotherly love and of universal prosperity and happiness, not only would the thought of war be eliminated from the minds of those who make wars possible, but even the reflection of this power of opinion would affect the Cosmic laws and universal peace would become an immediate and unchangeable condition. When public opinion in any locality or in any nation centers itself upon certain demands that are righteous, reasonable, fair, or especially of general good to all, the strongest and most influential of political powers, political parties, and political leaders is set to naught and can accomplish nothing in the face of this decision on the part of the mind of man.
Anyone who is elected to office by the universal opinion of the vast majority of persons who believe and demand that he is to do the things that are right, is suddenly given from the Cosmic a power to fulfill the demands of the public and is made fearful of any variation of those demands. In such a case the public who has established the opinion and who has elected the person to office must assume all responsibility of its judgment. This person is in a position to exert powerful influence and to be the master of his or her own fate in all political senses just as he or she is a master of his or her own personal life and must therefore assume the responsibility of his or her own acts.
Therefore, it is right and proper that the members of our organization attempting to work in harmony with universal Cosmic laws should analyze the political situation of today and select their candidates and vote for such persons as they honestly believe will conform to Cosmic rules and give the public the very best service possible. Part of our duty lies in attempting to make worldly conditions proper in a national or community sense, as well as in a private, social sense, for, after all, we are our brother's keeper in a wide interpretation and a nation's Karma can become a part of our own Karma.