Now Featured in the Patheos Book Club
Sacred America, Sacred World
Fulfilling Our Mission in Service to All
By Stephen Dinan
About the Book
As the 2016 election approaches, our country is spiraling into a dysfunction that threatens us all, including our allies around the world. The two-party system, sprung from the aims of democracy, has become violently divisive, nearly to the point where there are two Americas, each at the other's throat. America is being pulled apart, and every citizen feels the pain from this profoundly. When did political discourse become a boxing match? How did America, founded on the highest of principles of justice and freedom, get so far off course? And, most importantly, is it too late to repair the damage and get back on track?
According to leaders of the fast-growing transpartisan movement, it's not too late to jump-start our country's forward progress. Americans can transcend these damaging polarities—but only if we can hold to a vision that honors the ideals of both the left and the right, leaves behind their excesses, and embraces our country's evolution, both politically and spiritually.
One of this movement's most articulate champions is Stephen Dinan, a successful businessman and social innovator whose new book Sacred American, Sacred World: Fulfilling Our Mission in Service to All (Hampton Roads Publishing, July 2016) is considered "a compelling blueprint.… A visionary work of the highest order," by James O'Dea, former Director of Amnesty International.
Embracing a Sacred Vision of National Unity
Dinan's timely analysis of our predicament shows how each hardened position along America's political spectrum—be they Libertarian, Republican, moderate, Democratic, or socialist left—represents a selection from a larger set of sacred American principles. In other words, the agenda of each party is true but partial. Putting it all together requires a sacred vision, which Dinan offers along with numerous practical ideas and innovative strategies. This new America will value all political perspectives, seeing each as a valuable yet incomplete contribution toward the emerging whole.
Dinan's solution calls for each side to grow up and evolve, rather than vilify each other and fight. Drawing on the findings of developmental psychology, Dinan shows how America can leave behind our adolescent need for winner-take-all politics, and adopt a constructive, patient, and mature adult approach to politics. This also requires that we confront and heal our buried traumas such as centuries of slavery as well as our genocide against Native Americans.
Fulfilling Our Higher Mission to Nation and World
Our plunge into political gridlock began with the "culture war" that arose from the conservative reaction to the excesses of the 1960s. By the 1980's, Democratic and Republican agendas had crystallized around sharply opposing values. By 2016 the warring parties have turned even more extreme polarizing behavior, such as Tea Party libertarianism, Bernie Sander's democratic socialism, and the offensive posturing of a Donald Trump. How do we cope with this excess of partisan behavior?
Sacred America, Sacred World explores four ways America can transcend these divisions to fulfill its higher mission:
Part I: Developing a Sacred Worldview
Part II: Evolving Our Political Leadership
Part III: Creating Innovative Solutions
Part IV: Building an Evolutionary Movement
About the Author
Stephen Dinan, a noted social entrepreneur and visionary political strategist, is the founder and CEO of The Shift Network, a leading global provider of online transformational courses and trainings. He was previously a senior staffer at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), where he was the driving force behind the Shift in Action program; and at the Esalen Institute, where he directed and helped to create the Center for Theory and Research—a think tank for scholars, researchers, and teachers to explore human potential frontiers. A graduate of Stanford University, Dinan also holds a master's in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is a member of the prestigious Transformational Leadership Council and Evolutionary Leaders groups, and the author of Radical Spirit: Spiritual Writings from the Voices of Tomorrow (New World Library, 2002). Dinan resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family.
7/16/2016 4:00:00 AM