This applies to our country as well

If you want to know if you're making progress on the so-called spiritual path, see if you're kinder to people, see if you're a little easier on yourself. See if you obsess about all the stuff in your life a little bit less. See if you're happier in a simple way, more content. And see if you're treating people more as you would like to be treated. That means it's working.

You can't have secrets. It doesn't work. You can't have places you don't want to look at. You can't hide your shame and fear and guilt and anger. Where are you going to hide it? It's with you wherever you are. And if you don't look at it, that shadow covers you and keeps you in darkness. Even though you might feel you're not. If you're honest with yourself you'd have to say, well, there's stuff I'm not dealing with. And if you want your heart to be available--which is what we want our hearts to be--for people for relationships and for our own selves, you have to be whole

Krishna Das, from February 2006, Whole Life Times

My loopy idea: what applies to us individually applies to our nation as a whole. I came across this piece written by Krishna Das, who is an American dude who sings kirtan, very popular in some circles out here in California. I've kept distance from this phenom but what he writes really speaks to my personal growth. But it also speaks volumes about the state of our nation, if you take the bold leap of envisioning our country as a singular entity.