By Deepak Chopra and Dave Stewart It’s rare enough for an incoming President to inspire such a flood of hope and optimism, or so much relief that our long imprisonment in the political doldrums should be ending. But Barack Obama has done more than that. He has become a symbol of the rise of secular spirituality in this country, a liberated set of values that exists largely outside organized religion. Perhaps he himself is unaware of secular spirituality by that name. In lockstep with all previous Presidents, Obama must be seen attending church regularly, and that church must be close to mainstream. However, if you consider what he stands for, Obama’s worldview is more congruent with alternative theology than it is with churchgoers, 70% of whom were supporters of George Bush in his two election victories. Where organized religion has opted to stand by the right wing, millions of Americans who consider themselves spiritual have longed for peace, unity, nonviolence, and freedom that isn’t imposed by the force of arms. We think Obama stands for the same values. In that regard, he is taking up the mantle of Martin Luther King< jr., who should be honored as one of Obama's spiritual forebears as much as Lincoln. Religion was hijacked for political gain by the right wing beginning as far back as the Nixon era, yet there is a much stronger current of secular spirituality running through our history. The Founding Fathers were mostly Deists, rational Christians emerging from the Age of Enlightenment for whom a present-day Southern Baptist would have been totally foreign, if not anathema. They were tolerant believers in a benign God who transcended narrow denominations. They considered the rights of man to be the basis of enlightened belief, and when freedom was labeled an inalienable right, they meant that is was God-given, just as all men being created equal was God-given. One senses a blessed return to rationality and the end of intolerant dogma as Obama prepares to enter the White House, but secular spirituality has expanded since the days of Jefferson and Adams. It now includes the following principles that we urge the new President to espouse (several of them he already has): -- A spiritual duty to be benign stewards of the Earth and to preserve the ecology. -- A responsibility to revere Nature and to be humble before it.-- A duty to further peace among nations.-- A pledge of nonviolence that will lead finally to total nuclear disarmament in our lifetime. -- A refusal to use America's super power for militaristic ends.-- A sense of compassion for the poor and wretched beset by pandemic disease, lack of political influence, and denial of basic human rights. If Obama can further any of these values, he will be leaping miles ahead of his predecessor. Nothing about secular spirituality is radical. Most of its principles are articles of belief for millions of average Americans who have largely been shut out of politics for eight years. Our hopes for the new President won't be fulfilled until he adopts all of them. If he truly wants to reform the ways of Washington, he must extend his vision to the Congress, which under Republican domination served basically to block anything good and progressive. But secular spirituality isn't limited to the left or the progressive movement in general. It is a national phenomenon, one that will swell steadily in the coming years, particularly among the young. Born after the divisive culture wars that gave the right wing its main chance, the younger generations yearn for new values. Obama appeals to that yearning, and we hope he takes full advantage of it. It's not good enough that he becomes the first African-American President, the first green President, or the first digital President. Nothing less than spiritual renewal is needed across the board, and there is no one of equal stature to lead it. In the spirit of celebration, please watch the music video created for this occasion by Dave Stewart and Deepak Chopra. To learn more about The Vow, click here.Music and Video credits: I Take the VowWritten by: Dave Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Django James, and Mike BradfordPerformed by: Django James, featuring Dave Stewart and Deepak ChopraProduced by: Weapons of Mass EntertainmentVideo edited by: Kori Bundi 
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posted January 19, 2009 at 9:57 am
I vow to stand against secular spirituality and all of its false doctrine. I stand on the Word of God in Jesus Christ my savior. There is no other name under heaven whereby men must be saved. The salvation of the world will never come by collapse of doctrine and/or biblical values but by love in Christ. John 14:27 reads these words of Jesus> ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ Bet you won’t put this out for your readers. I’ll promise this to you, which is more than I will expect back. I will pray for you.
posted January 19, 2009 at 10:42 am
what is it about this man (Obama) to cause people to see in him what they wish to see?
i do not know of any statements/behaviors by Obama that support what you have written.
he is the ultimate centrist politician. Most of the positions he has taken do not protect the environment (the lunacy of ‘clean coal’ and expansion of nuclear power plants), escalation of the military conflict in Afganistan.
he does espouse some of what you outline, but i notice that in these matters there is no action backing any of it up (or proposed actions).
where he is implementing action based on words it is for things you probably do not support and you may end up very disappointed.
posted January 21, 2009 at 3:25 pm
If I could sum up my own personal sense of spirituality this would be it!
“With Liberty and Justice for all.”
posted January 22, 2009 at 12:52 am
good stuff Deekpak.i love this it is alway good to read about thing that make sense.thank you God bless
posted January 23, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Why the condescending remark towards southern baptists? Aren’t they one with everything and everyone else like you, me, the tree, the grass, the grocery bag, the telephone pole etc.? Shouldn’t you get beyond moral judgments and just realize there is no difference between you and them? Why do you think you have a moral obligation to uphold the “rights of man”? The founders did because they believed in a creator God who endowed mankind (His Creation) with certain inalienable rights because he created them in His own image (not because they were god). God was not an impersonal sea of unconsciousness, but a Creator with goals and desires for His creation. On that point the southern baptists and the deists certainly would have agreement though they would certainly disagree on many other issues. The enlightenment thinking of the Deists was not primarily their respect for human rights, but there rejection of the supernatural. Anyway, it is only a theist who has proper justification for human rights. The pantheist does not. Birth, death, happiness, pain, suffering, good, and evil, it’s all the same. Let’s not waste our time on the illusion of “human rights” because that presupposes a real moral order that is independent of human beings (inalienable rights, we cant change them). Furthermore, why should you be upset with “intolerant dogma” just because their illusion of consciousness leads them one direction and your “secular spiritual” consciousness leads you another? On what grounds is tolerance held up as an unchanging moral absolute in New Age thinking? Regarding rationality, why do you use YOUR reason to deny that YOU exist in reality? True reality is YOU realizing that there is no YOU, right? If rationality is just a result of darkened thinking then why are you trying to use it? If one is truly of the spiritual in New Age thinking, shouldn’t he be trying to get beyond this childish concept of logic? I think we need more holistic thinking if we are to be consistent here.
posted January 24, 2009 at 5:34 am
Wise and necessary words indeed……
But we must not forget or underestimate the power of the forces of opposition……
A president….black or white is almost as much a figurehead in this day and age as the queen of England…..
The real power bases are to be found in the corporate boardrooms where no passing of bills is necessary in order for them to execute their greedy schemes……..
It will take all our combined efforts to thwart this evil and power hungry minority……
May the fair winds blow……
Dom from LV
myspace.com/daoms
posted January 24, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Human beings have the ability to learn from everyone. If the general goal is to dissolve or replace mistaken perspectives, then learning to peel away layers of judgment is very desirable. Obama is an individual who encourages people to shift their attention away from the individual to more universal thoughts and situations. He reminds people to find reason to grasp ‘the cause and effect principle’ and to sense the inter-connectedness of everyone everywhere. Anything you do will have consequences that effect not only you, but everyone. This encourages expanding mindfulness on many more levels than before.
posted January 28, 2009 at 1:10 pm
It is curious that secular spiritualists must use language that demonstrates intolerance when talking about mainstream religion. “Lockstep” is more a term used when speaking of dictators. Anyone who has been to a country dominated by a dictatorship knows that the United States was not a dictatorship during President Bush’s tenure. However, dictatorships do utilize language in a way that substitutes untruth for truth. For example, altering the terms “global warming” to “climate change” conveniently alters the original hypothesis into a more encompassing and dominating concept. This is why ecological fundamentalists are prone to peak of climate change if their audience is experiencing normal winter weather.
Abortion is another perfect example. A pro-life viewpoint embraces modern science and points to conception (the very word says it all) as the beginning of human life. What the word smiths have chosen to do is to avoid discussion of the object – human life – and speak of a different object – choice. Whenever the subject is raised those on the pro-abortion side say, “we do not know when life begins”. Obviously, somebody isn’t staying awake in science class, and obviously we do not want those who are saying they don’t know making decisions regarding life and death if they are ignorant. If one errs it should be on the side of life.
The point is how is a “right winger” like myself not living out one of your own tenents – A sense of compassion for the poor and wretched beset by pandemic disease, lack of political influence, and denial of basic human rights.
When a human person is labeled a “fetus” and then denied human rights is this not an apparent contradiction that deserves dialogue? But there won’t be dialogue, because the so called tolerant are intolerant to any point of view that does not support their own point of view.
Secular spiritualists would do well to, rather than see religious spiritualists as an opponent, see the commonalities that we share. The key word is “spiritualist”. We should be in dialogue. Instead, an us versus them mentality is once again being raised. One which locks us in tension and ultimately will reveal that “secular spiritualist” are just as prone to being dishonest and untruthful as adherents to mainstream religion.