Love is the Essence of Patriotism

In honor of our nation's 250th birthday, I want to begin by saying how deeply I love America: our ideals, our national anthem, our flag, our people, our culture, our traditions, our history, our future, and our present. To me, being an American is a tremendous gift—despite the shadow side of our nation's past, present, and future. Regardless of the ways in which Americans have perpetrated harm against those who did not deserve it, nothing will shake my love for my country or my fellow countrymen.

Love is the essence of patriotism, for patriotism emanates from the heart. It is distinct from nationalism or jingoism, which arise from the ego and mind. Like the heart, patriotism is expansive and inclusive. It has the capacity to hold profound ambiguities without collapsing into judgment, and it does not default into black-and-white thinking. It does not require making "the other side" wrong. It does not seek war, yet it will defend what it loves with extraordinary valor, strength, and courage.

In America, patriotism requires the capacity to accept that a multiplicity of viewpoints, values, deeply held beliefs, and varying levels of understanding all converge within the borders of a single nation. And in that acceptance, patriotism finds its strength. Our diversity of ideas, backgrounds, cultures, and talents has fueled America's flourishing for the past 250 years. To attempt to homogenize the value system of a nation as diverse as ours would be to strip it of one of its greatest strengths.

Yet amid all of our diversity, one of the most enduring ideals upon which our nation was founded remains as inspiring today as it was 250 years ago:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

This is perhaps the most famous sentence in American history. It also echoes a truth deeply resonant with what we mean in Kundalini Yoga when we say Sat Nam: that each of us is equally created by the One Creator and shares the same essential, divine identity. Beneath all of our differences, we are One.

At its best, America reminds us of something larger than itself: that every human being possesses an inherent dignity that precedes politics, ideology, race, religion, and circumstance. To embrace the highest ideals of America is, in many ways, to embrace the highest ideals of our shared humanity.

As we enter our nation's next 250 years, I pray that we may continue striving toward those ideals—not perfectly, but sincerely—with humility, courage, and above all, love.

Sat Nam.