The Song of The Lord

Editor’s Note: Lowcountry Weekly does not endorse political candidates. Jared Madison is one of our regular columnists, and this is his regular column. 

My name is Jared Madison, and I am running for Beaufort City Council, and I don’t care if I win or lose.

Now before you grasp your pearls with such ferocity that you make nacre dust, let me explain…

Through my personal experience I have found that spirituality and quantum physics are the same song simply played in two different genres. Both fields invite us into realities which may resist ordinary intuition: ideas so strange, implausible, and paradoxical that they sound absurd at best.

Here are a few examples:

• Quantum Physics: There is more empty space in “solid” objects than there is matter.
• Spirituality: Your job is to do the work, but you must release your attachment to the outcome.
• Quantum Physics: Atoms can behave as particles (solid matter) or wave lengths (like light) depending on if they’re being observed or not.
• Spirituality: Letting go of what you want is the best way to achieve it.

I’ve shared these examples to illustrate that on a deeper level, beneath the surface of ordinary experience, both the seen and unseen dimensions of reality may function in ways that challenge what our lived experience tells us. Thus, seemingly contradictory things can and do exist at the same time.

Understandably, your mind may raise the question: If he doesn’t care if he wins or loses, why should I vote for him? If he doesn’t care about winning, what makes me think he’ll care about the job?

My answer is that spiritual teachers across varying traditions, cultures, and time periods have taught me the same lesson: the outcome is not mine to control. That belongs to a higher authority. My responsibility is to do the work and do it with my whole being.

Imagine the quandary of my spirit. I am called to give myself over, wholeheartedly, to the process of campaigning while relinquishing my attachment to the outcome. This election has become one of my deepest and most challenging spiritual practices: to devote myself completely to the work without allowing the results to possess me. Yet, as aforementioned, contradiction seems woven into the fabric of reality itself and if this is not some kind of road sign toward salvation, then the Song of The Lord echoes the same melody.

The Bhagavad Gita, or ‘The Song of the Lord’ is among the best-known Hindu scriptures. The Gita opens, quite dramatically, on a battlefield, as the protagonist warrior Arjuna turns in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna, for answers to the fundamental questions of life. But Sri Krishna isn’t simply Arjuna’s spiritual guide and charioteer. Krishna is the Supreme Being in embodied form.

Krishna’s dual role is part of what makes the story so powerful. Krishna is doing something outwardly humble and practical (driving Arjuna’s chariot), while at the same time, instructing him regarding dharma (the right way of living and acting in accordance with your nature, responsibilities, and the larger order of reality), action, devotion, the Self, and the ultimate nature of reality—which highlights the same concept of contradiction we’ve been circling around.

I read the Gita some time ago, however recently, I was called to read it again. I didn’t realize the significance of that internal suggestion to return to this work, until its message clicked right as I decided to run for City Council:

Chapter Two:

“⁴⁷You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction. ⁴⁸Perform in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself—without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat…”

Krishna deepens the lesson of nonattachment:

⁴⁹Seek refuge in the attitude of detachment and you will amass the wealth of spiritual awareness. Those who are motivated only by desire for fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do. ⁵⁰When consciousness is unified, however, all vain anxiety is left behind. There is no cause for worry, whether things go well or ill.”

Whether it’s Buddhism teaching letting go of craving and clinging as a means to avoid suffering or Taoism pointing towards Wu wei (action without forcing), or Jesus repeatedly teaching surrender to God’s will, or Stoicism instructing the disciple to focus on what is within his/her control and release what isn’t, they converge on a strikingly similar practical lesson: Act fully, love deeply, participate completely, but do not let your peace depend on possession, control, or outcome.

As a leader I can’t allow success nor failure to disrupt my internal disposition. I must remain devoted to the duty itself. Failure cannot divorce me from passion, nor can success become the condition upon which that passion depends. So, when I say I do not care whether I win or lose this election, I do not mean that I am indifferent. I mean that I cannot allow the outcome to determine the depth of my commitment.

I cannot care nor be attached to the outcome because no matter what the outcome is I must continue to strive forward and be of service to my community.

No matter the outcome, I must continue to study ways to mitigate unmanaged growth in Beaufort.

No matter the outcome, I must continue to find viable solutions to housing affordability and availability and its adverse effects on the character of our community because if we keep pushing out the people who grew up on the values of kindness, graciousness, respect, friendliness, and “yes ma’am and no sir”, who replaces them?

No matter the outcome, I must continue to find ways to make Beaufort’s economy more robust and economically diversified.

No matter the outcome, I must continue to advocate for our young people, who I feel like are being left out of the decisions that affect them.

No matter the outcome, I must continue to advocate for our trees, coastline, and wildlife.

No matter the outcome, I have a responsibility to solve the problems of tomorrow today.

I cannot allow my level of dedication to Beaufort to rise or fall with the results of something ultimately outside my control. What I can do is surrender my actions to a Higher Power, center my mind in the Self (the deeper spiritual essence beneath ego, fear, and temporary identity), free from expectations and possessiveness and fight without agitation.

And I will fight for you, for me, and for Beaufort, no matter what happens!