Towards a Spiritual Foreign Policy

March 16, 2004

Source: Tikkun Magazine

http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0403/article/040311a.html

On March 16, 2004 Tikkun Magazine published an editorial by Michael Lerner, noting: "Endorsing what we in the Tikkun Community call a 'progressive middle path' would be understood as a manifestation of a larger foreign policy vision that sees strength as emerging from cooperation rather than domination. Let America show Israel the way by dramatically reducing our defense budget (by at least 50 percent) and adopting a Global Marshall plan. Speaking from this moral standpoint, rather than from a place of economic coercion, the United States could play a major role in reshaping the political dynamics in Israel. The key here is the oldest teaching of all the world's spiritual traditions: the unity of all humanity, the equal sanctity of all, the overcoming of ego, and the recognition of our place in the whole... A spiritually informed foreign policy rooted in caring for the Other is realistic precisely because Americans are, like most other people on this planet, fundamentally decent, generous, and kind."