OUR political system is in total disarray. The political leaders have brought about a total chaos. It sounds like an overstatement, an exaggeration because at first sight it doesn’t look that way. Life is going on in government and society as usual, but that is only at the outside, inside it is boiling.

The famous scientist Albert Einstein reminds us of two pertinent truths for us today. One is that ‘the surface is the last thing to collapse’. Everything can seem to be going well, we are holding it all together during a bad patch; God will see us through. Then one day the very surface collapses because it’s hidden support turns out to be rotten. We are still waiting for that day to come. Only God knows when.

The other truth Einstein held was that ‘the mindset that causes its own inner collapse can never carry the seeds of its own renewal’. The necessary paradigm shift we long for cannot happen only from within any more. A new source, maybe from a place as yet unknown to us, must be found for another start, a new healing, a new hope. Otherwise, in systemic thinking, left to itself, the organization will clone itself back into business as usual.

Could it be our civil society where the renewal can start? Many ordinary citizens are becoming aware more and more of what is wrong in our political system. Could it be our youth today? It seems the Spirit is getting hold of them and drives them into the streets to express their anger and indignation.

Could it be the new charismatic leaders that are coming forward in the open: Ed Panlilio, Grace Padaca, Juan Carlos de los Reyes and Nicanor ‘Nick’ Perlas III? Nick said: ‘There are many Filipinos who have grown tired of elections where there are no real choices. We are tired of always having to choose the lesser evil.’ I saw Nick on TV announcing his intention to run in the 2010 elections. Asked if he could win, he said: ‘Yes, absolutely! That shows courage as well as faith. Yes, it can be done!

We still don’t grasp fully what went wrong with our political system. The fault line runs deeply through its length and breadth. It runs so deeply that often it can scarcely be perceived from within. That is why its redemption will be both painful and slow.

Government is about power, but governance is about service. It is the prophetic that is needed now. We need charismatic leaders as well as functional ones, transparent leaders rather than organization men.

At this instance, the virtues most needed are courage, faith and hope. We need courage, courage for the guilty ones to search into their own hearts, but courage also for all of us to acknowledge the part we have been playing by our silence, in the whole sorry story. Jesus could not keep silent when truth was compromised. For Him, as for us too, his power lay in his utter transparency. Nothing is ever completely hopeless. If we doubt that then indeed all is lost. Sooner or later, grace will always find a way to enter in. And in that, at least, we can trust.

(For your comments e-mail: arnvv@yahoo.com)