According to the first Gallop Poll of 2019, President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating sits at 55%. That’s not out of line with the disapproval rating of his three predecessors at low points in their administration. But never has the disapproval of a contemporary president been so fierce. Trump’s opposition doesn’t just dislike him, they despise him! His fabrications, derisive speech, and attempts at manipulation defile everything many hold dear about America.
How do you deal with a man like that as president? That’s the million dollar question, and one which has driven many people to take drastic action in their attempts to answer it. More than a few thousand Americans have actually moved out of the country just to get away from him. Others have turned to therapy. According to Psychology Today, Trump is “blowing up” the therapy room. And then, of course, there is always good old-fashioned resistance: make a sign, make some noise, and try to drive him out of office.
I can relate to the resistance part. It just feels good to push back against corruption. But as good as it may feel, it doesn’t change the fact that emotionally driven resistance is a poor platform for change. Though it may produce results, those results will be tainted with negativity. Indeed, resistance actually feeds into what we are resisting, in this case, Trump’s ego. If it is truly change that we want, and not just a fight, there is a better way to deal with Donald Trump. That way is a strategy of light.
Before I get into the strategy of light, let me first point out what is obvious to many of you: Trump has a BIG ego. He rants, raves, and tweets practically scream it. His ego is nothing other than the dark side of consciousness. I don’t mean dark in an evil context, though darkness definitely can produce evil acts. By dark, I mean the absence of truth and light.
Void of light, the ego is incapable of perceiving the interconnectedness of life. This is not only the case for Trump’s ego, but yours and mine as well. The more we identify with our egos, the more we perceive ourselves cut off from the whole of Creation. This creates a feeling of vulnerability in us. In Trump’s case, that vulnerability translates to a state of extreme defensiveness and self-preservation.
In our attempts to resist Trump, we often bring our own egos to bear on the hostile environment he has created, and thereby, compound the darkness. The only way to truly eliminate darkness is to usher in the light. This brings me to step one in the strategy of light: letting go of our hostility.
Step One: Letting Go of Hostility
Letting go of hostility does not mean that we quit feeling hostile toward Trump (if only it were that easy). It means that we quit justifying it. When we quit justifying our hostility, the ego diminishes in size, and consequently, so does the darkness in us. Now the light of consciousness that radiates from our souls can come through. By making ourselves vessels of light, we open an avenue for change to occur. Darkness cannot persists when light is introduced to it.
By saying we can eliminate darkness with the light, I am not suggesting that we rub out Donald Trump; in fact, I am suggesting just the opposite—we need to support him with the light that we are able to channel. Now before you object, let me clarify one thing: Donald Trump also has a soul, and no, it is not a bottomless pit of darkness. Like yours, it is a beautiful and radiant light. The problem is that his ego overshadows it and will continue to do so as long as it feels under attack. It is his soul, therefore, that we need to support if it is to find its way to the forefront of his being. This brings me to the second step in the strategy of light: engaging Trump’s soul.
Step Two: Engaging Trump’s Soul
To engage Trump’s soul, we only have to acknowledge it. If we feel resistance in doing so, it is just because we are still thinking of him in terms of an ego. His ego is nothing like his soul. We have to suspend our image of Trump as an ego to be able to conceive of his soul. We can do this by imagining an enlightened version of Trump in our minds and focusing on it. By imagining a version of Donald Trump that is kind and wise, we call forth his light.
Engaging someone’s soul is an easy and yet powerful transformative exercise. Imagine how much better off the world would be if we communicated soul to soul rather than ego to ego. And the really cool part about reaching out to the soul of the president of the United States is that there is no one there to stop you—no Marines, no Secret Service, not even Trump himself to get in your way. Trump’s soul wants to engage Creation, including you, me, Hondurans, Mexicans, Muslims, liberals—everybody! By engaging Trump’s soul, the light of it grows and illuminates his mind.
Now, I understand that this strategy may sound a little woo-woo to a few of you. And while I could try to convince you of its legitimacy based on some notable spiritual teachings, I think instead I will rely on physics to make my case, specifically the double-slit experiment.
The double-slit experiment shows that the act of observation plays a direct role in how energy manifest. We, the observers, do this by collapsing the wave function of possibilities in a given phenomenon. In doing so, we lend our hand to the creation of reality itself. In the case of Donald Trump, our observations, that is to say, our perceptions of him, lend a hand in determining how much light pervades his mind.
If you want more proof that the strategy of light really works, apply it to a relationship in your own life, one in which you resist due to conflict. Imagine a Christ-like, or Buddha-like version of the person. Focus on it, communicate with it even, until the enlightened image solidifies in your mind. I think you will notice an incredible “coincidence” occurs when you do: as your resistance diminishes, so does the conflict. The light you pull down is transforming both of you.
Ultimately, the best argument for employing a strategy of light to deal with Donald Trump is that you have nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain from doing so. Don’t forget that when you focus on the light in someone else, you actually increase the light in your own mind. That’s a game changer for you no matter what it does or doesn’t do for the other person.