When I stepped into Harkins Theatre in Sedona recently to check out Michael Moore’s latest documentary, “Sicko,” I was thirsty for new information from which past experience, analysis and intuition might be churned into a “new brew” of understanding.

This desire, fortunately, would not have to wait long. It would be obliged by a comment made by a Frenchman about three quarters of the way through the film, a comment that absolutely blew me away in its precise measurement of prevailing “attitudinal energy” across two nations. What he said was …

“In France, the government is afraid of the people. In your country, the people are afraid of the government.”

In a recent article, I paid homage to the virtues of “faith” when juxtaposed with “action” as a sort of “applied yin/yang psycho-spirituality,” also known in lay terms as “balance.” Using myself as an example of being way too “action” top-heavy, I learned that when action travels unsupported by some sort of belief in the action – faith – it becomes like a bullet leaving a barrel of a gun. After the initial spark, velocity slows down exponentially.

But when action and faith journey hand-in-hand, a physical/metaphysical phenomenon of sustainability is achievable, much like the way photons – which ironically comprise no mass – always travel at the speed of light, never slowing. Yet whether photons are “waves” or “particles” depends on the “belief” of the observer. At least, that’s what the quantum world tells us – that “subjectivity” is the only true reality, which of course completely contradicts the laws and precepts of mainstream linear physics.

Strange stuff indeed, but not without the most profound spiritual implications, and yes, directly traceable to the good Frenchman’s succinct editorial.

Faith bereft of action is a breeding ground for fear. This “other kind” of spiritual imbalance, plays out quite predictably. Egoistic energies crank out one subterfuge after another, the most popular of which are “victimization,” “powerlessness,” “big brother,” “the man,” “those damn insurance companies, lobbyists, Republicans, Democrats,” … you get the idea. Whatever excuse that can be utilized to rationalize failure, and to decapitate oneself from responsibility has received enormous sympathy ever since we stopped taking to the streets in the early seventies.

This profound shift from political and social “activism” to an “ideology of blame” has received a remarkable supporting apparatus in “relativity physics,” which tells us that the physical world comprises a giant mass of cause and effects, and thus, the entire universe, is basically pre-determined. That’s right. No free will. We’re just a bunch of billiard balls being smacked around either by God or that rat tailed dude. Either way, we’re not responsible.  

Today, new alliances in this contextual framework are proving to make the strangest of all bedfellows. Namely, the spirituality movement, so obsessed with faith and manifesting and being one with “spirit,” and good old relativity physics of “cause and effect.” 

This alliance expresses itself brilliantly, albeit completely unconsciously, with the popular platitude, “It’s all in Divine order.” Indeed, this modern day decapitation device for severing the human intellect and the responsibilities that go with it, is a seemingly innocent one, voiced with the best of intentions – that God is in charge.

Consider the implications of this. If God is in charge, then God is responsible and culpable for everything. And everything means “everything.” 911. The Crusades, Katrina, the Cubs not winning the World Series since 1908, and why we can’t get decent healthcare in America.

If this were true, indeed relativity physics would rule supreme. Fortunately, there is ample evidence to conclude that both the physical and spiritual aspects of life do not work at all this way, but rather, there is a constant collision (or handshake) between certain probabilities and free will. In other words, no one is in charge, not even God, but instead, everyone has “influence,” that is, if they choose to accept and honor their own divinely sanctioned “free will.”

As for those who regularly indulge in the platitude of “It’s all in divine order,” or who are waiting for “spirit to send them a sign,” such attitudinal dysfunctions could not be more antecedent to the “American problem” the Frenchman described.

Of course, it’s possible – even probable – that there are some French “waiting” for God to intervene on their personal behalf as well. However, to find them, be prepared to struggle through the mass of French humanity who regularly take to the streets to fight for their liberties – who are not.

Perhaps we don’t disdain the French as much as we envy them. How times change!

John David Balla is a former eBusiness analyst and systems integrator who now subsists as a corporate dropout in search of knowledge that brings forth healing, wisdom and freedom by bridging conventional paradigms of technology and consciousness with ancient ones. He is also an independent Internet marketing consultant, web designer, writer, and works regularly with a variety of large and small businesses spanning a wide spectrum of industries.