Guided Meditation: Who Should I Vote For?

I did a long meditation this morning trying to see the world in the shoes of as many people as possible, and I've came to the conclusion that the best president is one who will do the most to alleviate tensions in people's most stressed moments while inspiring hope that they would lead a better life. Don't be narrow-minded and analyze specific policies, because at the end of the day, whatever policy detail you focus on still will tie back to an intrinsic human fear of uncertainty. Seek happiness rather than fear.

Every human being makes a mental model of how they expect the world to like in the future and updates that model continuously every moment. Fear comes from uncertainty of the mental model. If you fear Trump or Clinton, it is because you don't have a clear mental model of how you can live a happy life under their reign. It's only partially an uncertainty of policy details. Even when you know exactly what they would do, you still fear that something might not go the way you would like things to do. JUST LET GO OF YOUR FEARS. You are going to live an awesome life on your own terms when you realize that you exist in the present moment, not the past, not the future, only now. Why not just try to enjoy exactly how you are feeling right now?

People love scapegoats. There is always someone to blame for your inner struggles. But in the heat of the moment, you're not thinking about who to blame. You are focused in the zone on surviving. Your conscious and subconscious minds have to work in sync in fight-or-flight situations if you want to survive. In these situations, you don't give a fuck about who is the president. You will only blame the president or some other nebulous scapegoat once the worst is over and you start to lose the rush of adrenaline. Both Trump and Clinton make great scapegoats in different situations. When shit goes wrong, you can choose to blame the scapegoat or improve your own life.

Now put yourself in the shoes of a Syrian refugee. Imagine what your day to day life is like. What are you eating? What does your surrounding look like? What are your dreams and aspirations? When you're in that situation, you have either already lost hope or you are thinking about a million different possible ways to get out of that situation. Escaping to anywhere is good. Surviving another day in any condition is good. You're not thinking about who the US president is. It makes zero difference to you if you can't even make it until the next day. You just want all the battles to stop and live in peace. You're not thinking that your only path to the future is to live in the suburbs in the US under a Clinton presidency because big bad Trump wouldn't let you in. If Trump wins, you would say, "Fuck my life, winning the lottery then living happily ever after is not an option anymore. Guess I'll hustle to survive until tomorrow as I have always done." If Clinton wins, you would say, "Fuck my life, I knew these Yankee cocksuckers are here to stay and continue killing my people. I will just have to live to fight another day."

Now put yourself in the shoes of a kid living in poverty in inner city Baltimore. You take the public bus to and from school and hope that you don't get mugged on your way. You try to avoid bullies or perhaps bully other kids out of frustration in your family life. Either way, you will have to prepare to get into fights and trouble with the school administrators. You know that the president isn't gonna do shit. You're not gonna be able to tag Obama, Trump, or Clinton into the fight when 5 other kids gang up on you and beat the shit of out you. Occasionally, you reflect on life and think, "It's kinda dope that a black man like Obama, Ben Carson, or Lil Wayne can make it big, but that ain't me. Out of the three, I'd rather be Lil Wayne though, 'cause he be getting the baddest bitches and weed." To make ends meet, you might be dealing a bit of drugs at school or after school in your neighborhood. When the cops come, you get the fuck outta there. Who is the president is the last thing on your mind. Clinton is going to continue the drug war and the school to prison pipeline. Trump is going to bring tougher police. Neither gives you hope for a brighter future.

Now put yourself in the shoes of an illegal Mexican immigrant who just wants to have a better life for his family in America. You and your wife are working 2 part time unskilled labor jobs each and are raising 3 kids in a rented small rowhouse in a sketchy neighborhood. You might even be sharing that house with your cousin's family. Let's say you work in the kitchen of a restaurant some days and fix up people's houses on other days. You work 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. On your rest day, you gather with 20 of your other Mexican friends and drink beer while playing soccer for a whole afternoon. You risk getting caught drunk driving without a license, but it's worth it to relieve stress and socialize. There might be domestic violence, but you can't call the police for fear of getting deported. It's a hard life, but better than the alternative. Every few weeks, you go to Western Union and send cash back to Mexico to family members who are in even more need than you. You miss your family in Mexico, but it's expensive and difficult to make a round trip. The trip would get even more difficult under Trump, but it's not like there's a clear path to success currently. It is understandable that if you have close friends who are US citizens that they would vote against Trump so that you life doesn't get more difficult.

Now put yourself in the shoes of a woman walking down the street alone at night. You are in fight or flight mode. Adrenaline is rushing and you are hyper-aware of your surroundings. You are in system 1 thinking mode; there is no room for system 2 rational thinking when it comes to survival in that high stress moment. You have to be cautious and on guard. Anyone you see can be a potential mugger or rapist. In the moment, you are fully focused on survival; who is the president is the last thing on your mind. On Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, you are at the safety needs level. Now on the self-actualization level, you might empathize with Clinton being a women who could reach such a high level of public success, but when you're in a life threatening situation, no policy matters. You can only protect yourself in that critical moment regardless of the law. There will always be bad people who break the law. Clinton herself doesn't feel safe walking alone outside at night either and couldn't pass any law that can make women actually safer. Nobody will ever feel safe walking alone at night; that's simply a biological survival instinct. Trump increasing the police force might make you feel safer walking alone at night, but that's also a psychological illusion. You should be suspicious of strangers who dress as police officers. Anyone is a potential rapist or mugger in that context. Just remember to not view men that way outside of that context. Teaching men not to rape doesn't help, because that's not even on the mind of most men, and the actual rapists are bad boys who want to break rules and not follow these teaching anyway. Reverse psychology is very powerful and for criminals the thrill is part of the reward, so legal punishments don't deter them either. The best solution here is to practice self defense and mindfulness for yourself.

Now put yourself in the shoes of a blue collar white American citizen in a small town. You work hard providing tangible value to your community and go to church every Sunday. For entertainment, you watch a lot of reality TV and go fishing on the weekends. You just want to live in peace doing what your ancestors have done for generations. You see Trump on TV and sees a familiar face from reality TV who seems to talk and think like you. He symbolizes what you perceive to be living the American dream. He's someone you'd love to have a few beers with and his family seems nice too. This is someone who you could identify with. He greatly inspires you to pursue the American dream, because he's just like you, only he's making it big. You see Clinton on TV and sees someone who is arrogant and out of touch with reality. She seems to be mocking you constantly and treating you as if you don't deserve to live. Her goal is to bring about a cultural extinction crisis that will exterminate your way of life. The anxiety due to uncertainty about the future is through the roof. You attend Trump rallies with great fervor and do whatever it takes to prevent a Clinton presidency.

Now put yourself in the shoes of a white collar American citizen of any race in a big city. Your life is great. You gossip with your friends about how stupid Trump sounds and if so and so in the office is acting like a bitch or having an affair. Your life is a "First World Problems" meme combined with a Dilbert comic strip. You face bureaucratic and intellectual challenges, but you don't feel any threats of physiological, safety, or cultural extinction danger. The difference between who becomes the president is whether you take 4 vs 5 vacations and buying a BMW vs a Lexus. For fun, you like to pretend that you care about the plights of people who are worse off, but when you actually meet one of these uncultured peasants, you politely make small talk for 45 seconds, then rush off to the bathroom to wash your hands for the 8th time that day. After work, you go back to your condo or gated community rather than actually interacting with the ghetto kid or Mexican immigrant in any meaningful way. You live in a privileged bubble that they could only dream about and see no hopes of obtaining. When something bad happens to other people, you post "pray for ____" on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and receive adoration from all your upper middle class basic bitch friends about how kindhearted you are. You thriving in getting praised for your virtue signaling without actually doing shit to help anyone else in the world directly or even interact with them without a snobbish attitude. You vote Clinton and couldn't even conceive why anyone else might prefer Trump, because Clinton acts just like all your pompous preppy friends and you are the average of your five closest friends. You pretend to value diversity, but all your friends act and look identical (dress and behave in similar styles, not literally biologically identical).

Now put yourself back into your own shoes and ask who am I? What are my fears? What gives me the greatest pleasure in this world? What is my internal motivation? What kind of attitude will bring me the most happiness in life?

Once you have found your answers, then you will know who to vote for or perhaps not vote at all.