Trump as Buddha (Or Christ, Muhammad, Krishna, Others), But Not In The Way You Might Expect

Morally, politically, and psychologically reprehensible though he may be, Trump embodies much of what is thriving in the shadows of the personal and social psyche. Yes, I want to wag my finger in accusation of how embarrassingly wrong he is as a human being, but deep down I know he reflects back parts of me I don't want to own, and owning them is part of  my movement forward, spiritually speaking, of making the "shadow conscious," as Jung says. I am not saying that I want to act of impulses of greed, narcissism, sexual predation, and ego run riot, but I am saying that he is a teacher. He is the me I don't want to be. "Everything is the Buddha," said my now deceased friend, Ken B. He meant that the world offers up a rich buffet of stimuli that I can either learn from or react to or both. The reactions are as much about me as them. Yes, there is much to revile about Trump and his behavior, much work to do to remedy the consequences of his political achievements, but, ultimately, he is a product of fear, pain, and human suffering. If I am to find some solace from the rage he inspires, I have to turn the guns around to see that inner work is part of the lesson here. In Twelve Step parlance, Trump is a call to do a Fourth Step, a "fearless and searching moral inventory," not of him, but me. Inner work, yes, but outer action, too, in love instead of righteous indignation.