![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/175+web_eric_by_liz_1078.jpg\" "\\"175+web_eric_by_liz_1078\\"")
<\/a>The thing about the Progressive movement is that, tending toward an intellectual orientation, it had an atheist flavor. Things of a spiritual or esoteric nature were all lumped together as being about religion. Enlightened politics believed in the separation of church and state. Religion was viewed as the opiate of the masses. Public policy requires sound empirical approach, not merely ‘belief’.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the New Age movement, a kind of eclectic grassroots spiritualism, didn’t want to get its hands dirty with politics. They suspected that politics contradicted everything they were working for — an internal orientation, devotion to growth and evolution, forgiveness, and evolving away from an us-and-them approach to life and toward unity.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in the early 1980s, a new political movement was born when conservatives saw the benefit of using churches as political clubhouses, fundraising bases and a place to ferment their agenda. Out of that dangerous cocktail of religion and politics was born what some people now describe as the American Taliban: an evangelical movement with the power to make government policy and war; to make your personal decisions for you, such as trying to set the terms of our relationships; and to define the idea of your family as something proprietary. In a sense, this development proved both the Progressives and the New Agers correct. Matters of faith and matters of public policy need to be blended carefully.<\/p>\n
What a difference 30 years can make. There are now countless people whose political views are informed by self-awareness and their deeper spiritual beliefs, and people who are on spiritual paths who understand that action is the fruit of knowledge — meaning that some issues need to be seen in political context, and worked out in a political forum. This is less about an agenda and more about a process: of awareness, of participation, of contributing to the world as a means of creating a better<\/em> world — and developing yourself in the process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If we want a better society, and if we want world peace, and if we want to protect the environment for the next generations who come after us — if we think these things will make us happy — imagine that — then we need to use every available channel, draw from every method. I call the people who understand this Spiritual Progressives. You are probably one of them. <\/p>\n How can you tell? You are a person of faith, and you believe in social justice.<\/p>\n You understand that the world begins with you, and you know that there’s work to be done in society — and you want to help because you’ll feel good and spread the vibes.<\/p>\n Part of your spiritual orientation is seeing that there’s not such a big difference between the ‘inner world’ and the ‘outer world’. There is you and your environment, in a relationship.<\/p>\n And you know that an approach based on love and awareness is precisely what politics needs. You’ve done all this learning and growing for something, millions of people have — and we all know that the time for action is now. Our civilization is infused with Spiritual Progressives, striving to put their knowledge to work, and to live in integrity.<\/p>\n Here’s a question: where do you see this viewpoint reflected in the world? Where do you go for ideas, for information and for a perspective on the news that takes this approach? <\/p>\n Planet Waves was designed specifically to satisfy a desire for cosmically aware news, informed by experience and learning. Writing that is based on supporting the connection between individuals, as that extends through our circles of friends. Writing that unfolds an approach to growth that understands that nothing less than our collective enlightenment is going to move the world to a more creative place. Doing this, we can help shift politics over the threshold where true progress can happen.<\/p>\n Based on a holistic view of life, Planet Waves is written with the understanding that we are sentient beings, capable of understanding the world — all of us — and we are integral to society.<\/p>\n Every day the world offers us the opportunity to bring our best gifts forward. We believe in you, and we want you to have the tools to make your way in the world. Drawing from a diverse set of resources — including astrology, an awareness of environmental science, a clear view of politics and an enlightened view of relationships — we offer you information and perspectives in our unique way, seeing the connections between seemingly different things. <\/p>\n Planet Waves is here at the right time — and we’re here for you. Take advantage of our amazing resources. Get started today<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yours & truly,<\/p>\n Dear Friend and Reader: At the end of the Vietnam War, the American left fractured into numerous movements. One of them is what we think of today as the traditional left: the Progressive movement. Another was the New Age. The thing about the Progressive movement is that, tending toward an intellectual orientation, it had an … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"