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A speech delivered by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) at the Praxis PeaceInstitute Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia on June 9, 2002

Spirit and Stardust

This speech by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH),though definitely not written as a psychedelicmanifesto, is one of the clearest examples in printof the political implications of the mystical expe-rience. Over the past few months, this speech byRep. Kucinich has been posted to numerousInternet sites and e-mail lists devoted to peaceand social justice. We thought it remarkably ap-propriate for this issue of the MAPS Bulletin, inwhich we reflect on our vision for the future.

There is an idealism at the core of the psy-chedelic community that is difficult to explain.It's based in part on the conviction that even par-tial unitive mystical experiences, whether or notcatalyzed by psychedelics, can have a transforma-tive effect. The hope is that the lasting effects ofthese experiences include more tolerance and ap-preciation of diversity of all kinds, enhanced envi-ronmental awareness, solidarity with the poor andoppressed, and a willingness to work through dif-ficult emotions rather than project them onto anexternal enemy or scapegoat. This vision/hypoth-esis of the social value of psychedelic mysticalexperiences is supported by the findings of RickDoblin's 25+ year follow-up study to Dr. Walter Pahnke's classic Good Friday experiment (http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/doblin.htm).

Rep. Kucinich beautifully voices the possibility of translating the experience of unity and tran-scendence into action and change. We agree with Rep. Kucinich that when “spiritual principles formthe basis of active citizenship,” small groups of people can create positive change against greatodds. We are pleased to share his inspirational message with MAPS members.

As one studies the images of the Eagle Nebula, brought back by the Hubble Telescope fromthat place in deep space where stars are born, one can imagine the interplay of cosmic forcesacross space and time, of matter and spirit dancing to the music of the spheres, atop an infinitesea of numbers.

Spirit merges with matter to sanctify the universe. Matter transcends to return to spirit. Theinterchangeability of matter and spirit means the starlit magic of the outermost life of our uni-

Eagle Nebula (M16)NASA/STScI

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verse becomes the soul-light magic of the in-nermost life of our self. The energy of the starsbecomes us.

We become the energy of the stars. Stardustand spirit unite and we begin: One with theuniverse. Whole and holy. From one source, end-less creative energy, bursting forth, kinetic, el-emental. We, the earth, air, water and fire-sourceof nearly fifteen billion years of cosmic spiral-ing.

We begin as a perfect union of matter andspirit. We receive the blessings of the Eternalfrom sky and earth. In our outstretched handswe can feel the energy of the universe. We re-ceive the blessings of the Eternal from water,which nourishes and sanctifies life. We receivethe blessings of the Eternal from the primal fire,the pulsating heart of creation. We experiencethe wonder of life multidimensional and tran-scendent. We extend our hands upwards and weare showered with abundance. We ask and wereceive. A universe of plenty flows to us, throughus. It is in us. We become filled with endlesspossibilities.

We need to remember where we came from;to know that we are one. To understand that weare of an undivided whole: race, color, national-ity, creed, gender are beams of light, refractedthrough one great prism. We begin as perfectand journey through life to become more per-

fect in the singularity of “I” and in the multi-plicity of “we”; a more perfect union of matterand spirit. — This is human striving. This iswhere, in Shelley’s words, “...hope creates fromits own wreck the thing it contemplates.”

This is what Browning spoke of: Our ‘reachexceeding [our] grasp’. This is a search for heavenwithin, a quest for our eternal home. In our soul’sMagnificat, we become conscious of the cosmoswithin us. We hear the music of peace, we hearthe music of cooperation, we hear music of love.We hear harmony, a celestial symphony. In oursoul’s forgetting, we become unconscious of ourcosmic birthright, plighted with disharmony,disunity, torn asunder from the stars in a disas-ter well-described by Matthew Arnold in DoverBeach: “...the world, which seems to lie beforeus like a land of dreams, so various, so beauti-ful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love, norlight, nor certitude nor peace, nor help for pain.And we are here, as on a darkling plain, sweptwith confused alarms of struggle and flight,where ignorant armies clash by night.”

Today Dover Beach is upon the shores ofthe Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Our lead-ers think the unthinkable and speak of the un-speakable inevitability of nuclear war; of anuclear attack on New York City, of terrorist at-tacks throughout our nation; of war against Iraqusing nuclear weapons; of biological and chemi-

“This is a search for heaven within, a quest for our eternal home.”

A. SchallerNASA/STScI

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cal weapon attacks on ci-vilian populations; ofcatastrophic global cli-mate change; of war inouter space.

When death (notlife) becomes inevitable,we are presented with anopportunity for greatclarity, for a great awak-ening, to rescue the hu-man spirit from the armsof Morpheus throughlove, through compassionand through integratingspiritual vision and activecitizenship to restorepeace to our world. Themoment that one worldis about to end, a newworld is about to begin.We need to rememberwhere we came from. Because the path home isalso the way to the future.

In the city I represent in the United StatesCongress, there is a memorial to Peace, namedby its sculptor, Marshall A. Fredericks the “Foun-tain of Eternal Life.” A figure rises from theflames, his gaze fixed to the stars, his handspositioned sextant-like, as if measuring the dis-

tance. Though flames ofwar from the millions ofhearts and the dozens ofplaces wherein it rages,may lick at our con-sciousness, our gazemust be fixed upward toinvoke universal prin-ciples of unity, of co-op-eration, of compassion,to infuse our world withpeace, to ask for the ac-tive presence of peace,to expand our capacityto receive it and to ex-press it in our everydaylife. We must do thisfearlessly and coura-geously and not breathein the poison gas of ter-ror. As we receive, soshall we give.

As citizen-diplomats of the world, we sendpeace as conscious expression where ever, when-ever and to whomever it is needed: to the MiddleEast, to the Israelis and the Palestinians, to thePakistanis and the Indians, to Americans andAl-Qaeda, and to the people of Iraq, and to allthose locked in deadly combat. And we fly to bewith the bereft, with those on the brink, to lis-

“Our leaders think the unthinkable andspeak of the unspeakable

inevitability of nuclear war.”

U.S. Department of Energy

Fountain of Eternal LifeMarshall A. FredricksCleveland, Ohio

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ten compassionately, setting aside judgment andmalice to become peacemakers, to intervene, tomediate, to bring ourselves back from the abyss,to bind up the world’s wounds.

As we aspire to universal brotherhood andsisterhood, we harken to the cry from the heartof the world and respond affirmatively to ad-dress through thought, word and deed condi-tions which give rise to conflict: Economic ex-ploitation, empire building, political oppression,religious intolerance, poverty, disease, famine,homelessness, struggles over control of water,land, minerals, and oil.

We realize that what affects anyone, any-where affects everyone, everywhere.

As we help others to heal, we heal our-selves. Our vision of interconnectedness reso-nates with new networks of world citizens innongovernmental organizations linking fromnumberless centers of energy, expressing theemergence of a new organic whole, seeking unitywithin and across national lines. Newtransnational web-based email and telecommu-nications systems transcend governments andcarry within them the power of qualitative trans-formation of social and politica structures and anew sense of creative intelligence. If govern-ments and their leaders, bound by hierarchy andpatriarchy, wedded to military might for legiti-macy, fail to grasp the implications of an emerg-

ing world consciousness for cooperation, forpeace and for sustainability, they may becomeirrelevant.

As citizen-activists the world over merge,they can become an irresistible force to createpeace and protect the planet. From here willcome a new movement to abolish nuclear weap-ons and all weapons of mass destruction. Fromhere will come the demand for sustainable com-munities, for new systems of energy, transpor-tation and commerce. From here comes the fu-ture rushing in on us.

How does one acquire the capacity for ac-tive citizenship? The opportunities exist everyday. In Cleveland, citizens have developed theability to intercede when schools are scheduledto be closed, and have kept the schools open;to rally to keep hospitals open; to save indus-tries which provide jobs; to protect neighbor-hood libraries from curtailment of service, toimprove community policing; to meet racial,ethnic and religious intolerance openly and di-rectly.

Active citizenship begins with an envision-ing of the desired outcome and a conscious ap-plication of spiritual principles. I know. I haveworked with the people in my own community.I have seen the dynamic of faith in self, faith inone’s ability to change things, faith in one’sability to prevail against the odds through an

“We realize that what affects anyone, anywhere affects everyone,everywhere. As we help others to heal, we heal our selves.”

CrinoidsJ. Rottman

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appeal to the spirit of the world for help, throughan appeal to the spirit of community for partici-pation, through an appeal to the spirit of coop-eration, which multiplies energy. I have seencitizens challenge condition without condemn-ing anyone, while invoking principles of non-opposition and inclusion of those who disagree.

I have seen groups of people overcome in-credible odds as they become aware they areparticipating in a cause beyond self and sensethe movement of the inexorable which comesfrom unity. When you feel this principle at work,when you see spiritual principles form the basisof active citizenship, you are reminded onceagain of the merging of stardust and spirit. Thereis creativity. There is magic. There is alchemy.

Citizens across the United States are nowuniting in a great cause to establish a Depart-ment of Peace, seeking nothing less than thetransformation of our society, to make non-vio-lence an organizing principle, to make war ar-chaic through creating a paradigm shift in ourculture for human development, for economicand political justice and for violence control.Its work in violence control will be to supportdisarmament, treaties, peaceful coexistence andpeaceful consensus building. Its focus on eco-nomic and political justice will examine andenhance resource distribution, human and eco-nomic rights and strengthen democratic values.

Domestically, the Department of Peacewould address violence in the home, spousalabuse, child abuse, gangs, police-communityrelations conflicts and work with individuals andgroups to achieve changes in attitudes that ex-amine the mythologies of cherished world views,such as ‘violence is inevitable’ or ‘war is inevi-table’. Thus it will help with the discovery ofnew selves and new paths toward peaceful con-sensus.

The Department of Peace will also addresshuman development and the unique concerns ofwomen and children. It will envision and seekto implement plans for peace education, not sim-ply as a course of study, but as a template for

Cup CoralJ. Rottman

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all pursuits ofk n o w l e d g ewithin formaleducational set-tings.

Violence isnot inevitable.War is not inevi-table. Non-vio-lence and peaceare inevitable.We can make ofthis world a giftof peace whichwill confirm thepresence of uni-versal spirit inour lives. We cansend into the fu-ture the giftwhich will pro-tect our children from fear, from harm, from de-struction.

Carved inside the pediment which sits atopthe marble columns is a sentinel at the entranceto the United States House of Representatives.Standing resolutely inside this “Apotheosis ofDemocracy” is a woman, a shield by her left side,with her outstretched right arm protecting achild happily sitting at her feet. The child holdsthe lamp of knowledge under the protection ofthis patroness.

“There is creativity.

There is magic.

There is alchemy.”

Peace Protecting GeniusPaul Wayland-Bartlett

(5-meo-dmt)

This won-drous sculptureby Paul WaylandBartlett, is en-titled “PeaceProtecting Ge-nius.” Not withnuclear arms,but with a lovingmaternal arm isthe knowingchild Geniusshielded fromharm. This is thepromise of hopeover fear. This isthe promise oflove which over-comes all. This isthe promise offaith which over-

comes doubt. This is the promise of light whichovercomes darkness. This is the promise of peacewhich overcomes war.

Thank You.

Email responses to info@thespiritoffreedom.comor Dkucinich@AOL.com