The NSA and All That... a Spiritual Perspective

The following reflection was given at the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace on October 4th, 2013.

Losing Our Way

Good morning.

Of one thing we can be assured, ICUJP is not a dull place. Although acting most often on the fringe of the fray, we have a dog (or at least an opinion) in many of the local, state, national and international debates that swirl all around us like a tempest that never seems to abate, and which, if anything, only becomes more fierce and divisive.

That is why it was so enjoyable and refreshing last Friday morning to be reminded by Anthony in his Reflection of the need for silence; for it is in silence that we are not only made whole but we are all united behind – or beyond – all the words, thoughts, passions, and diversity of opinions and actions that otherwise so divide us from the common whole.

Which brings me to the NSA; or at least to two instances I can still vividly recall from my earlier life in England that come to mind as I now ponder and write this Reflection.

One was the time I found myself in Westminster Square while on a meandering sight-seeing tour of London, the city in which I was then living, and on a whim, entered the House of Commons where to my amazement I was allowed to sit, albeit without causing a disturbance, in the Public Gallery and observe my government at work. And of that initial experience I remember two very distinct sensations as I gazed at the spectacle taking place on the floor beneath. The first of these was the remarkable ease with which I had suddenly been transported from the wet, bustling streets of London into this political and oft’ times hallowed chamber and hotbed of world renown, and witness for myself the unfolding debate as if in a sporting arena or at a West End theatre, both of which it has at times resembled. This combined itself with the no less laudable maturity of this democratic system, that had allowed me to spontaneously sit as a witness to this very real spectacle that would impact my life and the lives of my fellow citizens, which was the quality of the process that relied upon skilled and passionate debate before taking a vote to determine, if only by a majority, the best path of action for the greatest number of people.

And the other distinct sensation that revealed itself was that for all the fine rhetoric that billowed up to this Public Gallery, the combatants – for that is how they seemed – were missing the larger Point, more consumed in a terrestrial war of words and ideas than awed by the Eternal Silence which embraces us all, and which led me to affirm from that day to this that politics is merely the art of perfecting second best, quite forgetting that second best cannot ever be perfected.

And the other, quite different recollection of my time in London relative to this Reflection, was when the annual license on my moped had expired and I was stopped at a pedestrian crossing while a burly cross-armed policeman stood beside me at the curb beaming down as only British “Bobbies” seem to do; but I deliberately ignored his stare out of concern that he would notice my minor infringement and issue me with a fine I could ill afford. Fortunately, he failed to notice and I renewed my license the following week and by contrast, I almost wanted to show it off to any passing policeman.

 I have forgotten neither of these instances of many years ago and I am reminded of them both through the experience of silence and that other topic we touched upon last week, the intrusive nature of the NSA because to me, there is somewhere in all of this some bizarre connection all to do with surveillance, secrecy, lies, transparency and our own evolution as a species of who we are; and while I can fully recognize the very distinct difference between not wanting to be found out for some private misdemeanor from what is nobody else’s business and what is everybody’s business: and what is for the greater good and what is for the greater evil, whether we are talking about an Orwellian mélange of spying techniques or a Julian Assange of Wikileaks, it is through the dramatic and rapid advance in computer science and satellite technology combined with the growing global demands for a more open and equitable society seeded and emboldened by brazen computer hackers and intrepid whistle-blowers driven, at least in part, by the dictates of their conscience, we can no longer hide what we once could hide be we an individual, a corporation, a government agency or the fragile front line of international politics – all of which has the profound potential to dramatically alter and shape our world either through a greater openness, honesty and trust – the bedrock of true diplomacy; or whether it will lead to an even more dangerous, mistrustful and sinister world.

 And to me the great irony in all of this, far greater than the reach big or little Brother ever can or ever will make, is that – when we enter the Silence – we encounter an Infinite Intelligence from Whom no secret can ever be hid, and whose surveillance knows the very last hair on each of our collective heads just as It knows the fall of every sparrow.

To which end, it is to be hoped that the technological and social revolution that is now sweeping through our global society is, in the broader context, a more subtle pressure upon our evolution as a species to become not so much cognizant of each other’s private lives, failures and weaknesses, but of our own Divine selves in the most humbled and benevolent of senses.