Manual for a Perfect Government: How to harness the laws of nature to bring maximum success to governmental administration by John Hagelin
Review by Cate Montana
At first glance it seems odd that an internationally renowned quantum physicist would write a guidebook for the optimal functioning of government. But on the very first page of Manual for a Perfect Government the correlation between John Hagelin’s career as physicist and career as politician becomes clear.
"In recent years, modern science has gained a deep understanding of the profound organizing principles through which nature governs the universe. These principles uphold order in all physical and biological systems, and support the life and evolution of innumerable species. According to the latest scientific research, these same natural laws and profound organizing principles can be directly applied to human society, to alleviate social problems and raise government leadership to a whole new level. This application is through technologies and programs that harness specific laws of nature, and that bring the whole of national life into greater accord with natural law."
In a simple straightforward style, Hagelin outlines the properties of a government based in Natural Law as 1) rich with profound order; 2) maximally efficient and; 3) inherently evolutionary and life-supporting. He explains that our current government structure does not work because it violates much of Natural Law and, as a result, does not support the most basic of human needs: personal fulfillment, health and evolution.
By applying natural law to such areas as health, education, agriculture, crime and economics, a self-governing and self-regulating society could emerge that is more in alignment with the Founding Fathers original intent, which was a government of minimal intervention facilitating “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But before one can apply Natural Law, one must understand what it is. And that means traveling beyond intellectual concepts of nature and its organizational principles, into the realm of actual experience.
Natural Law and its applications can best be understood through the use of such inner consciousness work, as Transcendental Meditation. In lucid terms Hagelin explains that by consciously accessing the Unified Field through meditation, we access the thought, the mindfulness of nature itself. Once we individually experience Natural Law, we can then apply the laws that govern the underpinnings of physical reality to our evolutionary benefit. From a more calm, creative, objective and yet experiential understanding, we can develop educational systems, agricultural systems, health care systems, economic systems such as he outlines in the book; governmental systems that are more common-sense, uplifting, progressive, egalitarian and sustainable.
At 171 pages, it’s a small book that gets straight to the point. Hagelin spends no time browbeating the existing governmental structures.
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He doesn’t have to, for what he describes as optimum administrative functioning throws the current U.S. government’s crisis management approach to governing into bold relief. It is abundantly clear by comparison, that following un-natural laws supporting uncontrolled corporitization, militarization; environmentally destructive development; a mind-numbing educational approach of rote-learning; a heath care system that supports drug company profits over natural health care prevention; destructive agricultural procedures based in unnatural chemical fertilization, and crime prevention that does nothing to prevent crime, because it does not, cannot, address the mental/emotional stress conditions and thought processes that create crime, that we have lost our way and need to take another path.
If you are interested in a lucid, common sense, well-documented, scientific approach to social change in the world, this book is a must read. Give it to your kids, their teachers, the school principal, the social scientist living next door. Send a copy to your legislator. This just might catch on.
PAVEL'S PICK
Mind The Gap
Mind The Gap is a film that came out of nowhere and absolutely stunned this reviewer. With no fanfare, an invisible theatrical run and non-existent publicity, this film, recently available on DVD, is a must- see for those interested in transformation and spirituality. It is a film of simple beauty with a theme that many on a spiritual path will relate to – the importance of forgiveness and more importantly, the necessity of self-forgiveness in order to embrace life.
Rocky (Christopher Kovaleski) contemplates his origins
Written and Directed by Eric Schaeffer, (If Lucy Fell) the film has an ensemble cast of five seemingly unrelated people, whose lives all come together unpredictably near the film’s end. Although some reviewers have criticized Schaeffer as ripping off Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, which has a similar narrative structure, this is not the case. The idea of multiple story lines coming together unexpectedly originated with Robert Altman in Nashville, and continued throughout most of his films. And in Mind the Gap, this technique works.
It takes a while to weave the variety of story lines together. Malissa is a young, eccentric girl from the south who, despite the burden of caring for her spiteful, bedridden mother, is one of the most optimistic characters I’ve seen in films of late.
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She has dreams of getting out of her small town and seeing the world.
Herb is a crusty, Jewish New York widower who feels that the world around him is changing far too fast and that young people have no understanding of the way things used to be. His dreams take him to the past, to an idyllic life as a child back when you could actually swim in the Hudson River.
Sam, played by Director Schaeffer, is a single father who lives in Vermont with his ten-year old son, Rocky, birthed by a surrogate mother via an egg Sam purchases on the Internet. A health crisis propels father and son to confront the past, and the issue of who takes care of Rocky if the only parent is no longer alive.
Jody is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn who dreams of success in Manhattan, but will not venture into the city to perform or date. Burdened with a rare heart condition, she wears a pace-maker and fears falling in love may kill her. Despite this, against doctors’ orders, she runs wind –sprints down the sidewalks of Brooklyn.
And finally there is John, an accountant living in Arizona, who misses his son after an ugly divorce set off by his cheating ways. He suffers alone, contemplating suicide.
Although the pacing can sometimes be slow and the acting uneven, Mind the Gap offers some surprising performances. The father-son interchanges between Sam and Rocky (Christopher Kovaleski) are priceless. Both Elizabeth Reaser as Malissa, and Charles Parnell as John create breakout roles that leave an indelible impression.
The result is a movie about dreams and the major hurdles ordinary people must overcome to accomplish them. It is a film that weaves the themes of self-forgiveness and self-responsibility. Rarely has a film shown so clearly how the attitudes people carry around with them directly influence their health and healing. I agree wholeheartedly with Joe Leydon of Variety who says, "'Mind The Gap is a deeply felt and sharply observed comedy-drama... with a cumulative emotional impact that is immensely satisfying."
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