It is a dream of political philosophers throughout the ages that we might develop as individuals as we serve the evolution of society. More typical is the view of political philosophers as dreamers and political participation as a distracting and corrupting influence on our lives. Yet, the philosopher’s dream is often the reality of democracy. Individuals and communities do develop through their own democratic participation. And through such participation democratic institutions evolve.

Democracy is a school through which we develop skills and abilities. It can feel like boot camp. It is like this both in small groups and in the national arena. Through our participation we learn to articulate our views, formulate our ethics, listen attentively, speak publicly, and truly comprehend the concerns of others. This challenges our capacities. We learn to negotiate, facilitate, unite, and work with others. It strains our abilities. Democratic participation calls on us to simultaneously be patient and assert ourselves. It requires us to be accountable to commitments and surrender our losses. It demands that we articulate our concerns and integrate those of others. It even teaches us that if we aren’t nice we don’t get any cookies. Most importantly, democracy presents us with an uncharted terrain of future possibilities. All of us together must create our own reality. Hence, we are challenged to lay down a bridge upon which we travel. Yet, it is a land that may never arise. For one show of hands is all it takes for mountains to fall - and cookies to crumble. The opportunities for democratic participation are virtually endless in a complex society such as our own. Many of these opportunities are non-adversarial and involve providing the oversight of vitally necessary services. School boards, homeowners associations, non-profits, planning commissions, neighborhood groups, credit unions, and cooperatives are just a few of the entities crying out for dedicated participation. The work these organizations could accomplish would be staggering if democratic participation were truly valued in our society. A reconceptualization of participation in the wider political arena would have an even greater impact. .

Through democratic participation we work with others to establish how we shall live together. Sometimes this involves collaboration, sometimes hair pulling. Such participation is like decoding the good life, then having to get it passed. It is a war waged with ourselves, for ourselves, and by ourselves - a war waged on the battlefield of life itself. For all of life’s issues are affected by politics. Yet, the ends and means are never certain. The armies are always changing. And while it is possible to transcend this field of action, there is rarely a Krishna guiding our party. Thus, political participation in a democratic system can often feel like the wide and impossible embrace of life itself, with all its excess pounds of baggage and no place to store them. Politics is a tough teacher. It is no wonder so many fail to remain standing on this field of battle.

The skills we develop through democratic participation do more than teach us, though. They challenge us to develop. Through democratic participation, we evolve along multiple lines: cognitive, ethical, interpersonal, communicative, spiritual, and more. For through our involvement we are constantly deluged with an ever growing complexity of inter-related perspectives. These must be comprehended and integrated. We must reason through issues that ever seem to grow in complexity; take ethical stands requiring ever more inclusive principles; communicate and relate with an ever growing audience; empathize, socialize, and harmonize in wider and wider circles. And ultimately, if we are to be successful in our service, we must learn to not only examine our own motivations but witness our actions from the great reservoir of emptiness. For it is from this grander reserve that great visions might arise.

Democratic participation challenges us to account for an ever growing range of perspectives and concerns. For without such an awareness, political players will inevitably be left spinning their wheels in a pit of unnecessary conflicts and miscommunications. A true political statesman is one who can drag us out of the pit. Such a statesman or woman can transcend and include the hearts and mental models of others, bathing his or her culture and institutions in a higher order of integrated complexity. Not only is this a worldly art; it is a form of personal mastery.

Democracy ultimately confronts us with the construction and dissolution of our dreams. Through the democratic process, we stand at the center of possibility emerging. We choose an end. Paint space with the color of our dreams. Give shape to vision. Create fields of consciousness. Then animate creation through a simple show of hands. But after all is said and done, the ends are never certain when they are always subject to a vote. Worlds are built and destroyed in the field of democratic dreams. To watch this play with equanimity, as an actor in the grand drama of human evolution, is both beautiful and awe inspiring. This is the vantage of the Bodhisattva politician and the master statesman. From this vista, in the fray of political battle but not of it, the creation and destruction of the world is witnessed. To stand here is to be one with what Hegel referred to as the spirit of history, ever reaching outward in multiplying spirals of awareness. Consciousness awake to its own evolution. A hall of mirrors animating itself. This too is the Philosopher’s Dream.