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| Thou Mayest, Steve Brown 2026 |
The worth of the individual isn't valued as much by mankind. We see this in nation building; we see this in corporation building, and almost any other organization. If we look closely, we can even see this in ourselves. Families may wail unconsolably at the loss of their loved one sacrificed for the agendas of others. Individuals may wail unconsolably for their very personal loss. But nation-states, corporations, and most organizations only wail if that grief supports their agendas, which is always framed as growth or the greater good. So, anything viewed as an attack from the outside produces much collective sorrow because it increases the feeling of unity and shared values. Anyone viewed as a threat or a nuisance from the inside is eliminated. Therefore, what is clearly valued is the reinforcement of the group's ego, not the individual.
The death of Charlie Kirk matters deeply to his friends and family regardless of whether their values align with his or not. Adult children often wail deeply over the death of parents they certainly do not see eye to eye with. We can have friends we feel are totally lost and love them anyway. But beyond that, a human's worth is only what he or she contributes to the cause. Charlie Kirk is a martyr because he was attacked from the outside. However, had his ideology evolved over time and begun to run counter to the ideas of the conservative movement, he would have quickly become hated like Liz Cheney and discarded. That doesn't say anything about conservatism because the same happens on the left. However, it says volumes about humanity. Sadly, some families are so dysfunctional that they do the same thing.
It is an important truth to recognize that outside our friends and family, as individuals, we humans are basically worthless. This knowledge is useful for two reasons. First, it provides a lot of freedom. If I acknowledge that I really don't matter much to society, then I have a lot of space to grow into who I want to become without having to worry too much about what others think. Why would I care too much about the opinions of people I know value me only when I support their egos? I can still love and care about them, but why would I let their opinion stifle who I want to become when I know that I am only valuable as long as I reaffirm their world view? Yet, we do that all the time, over the stupidest stuff. We worry about what we wear because of what total strangers may think. Absurd. Once you realize that to the world you are insignificant, you can become whoever you want to be.
Second, although knowing you're worthless outside your immediate family does provide an enormous amount of freedom, the divine soul within each of us, instinctively knows This should not be so. God has put deep within us the knowledge we are intrinsically valuable beyond measure. We are his stuff. God matter. This is where our sense of injustice comes from. As destructive as the ego can be, this is the good part, the source. We instinctively know we are divine and rant and rave and pout when we are not treated that way. That comes from insecurity, from both knowing and not-knowing simultaneously. We feel our divine nature enough to know when we've been treated unjustly, but most of us do not know our divine nature enough to know that that it is impossible for our divinity to be taken away if we fully recognize our worth. You cannot strip or beat divinity out of someone who firmly feels it.
When we know that ultimately, we are worthless to humanity and yet divine to God, we become humble and free enough to do good mischievously, under the radar. We begin to value people simply because they are, and not because they support us. We look for those most distanced from who they really are, and we want to reach out to them, not because they support our ego, not because we feel we can save them, but because we no longer see humanity in terms of alliances and enemies and no longer see people as something that can be sacrificed. We become free from society and instead intensely immersed in everything living. A person is no longer valued because he or she supports our worldview. A person all of the sudden is valued because when you look inside their eyes you see life--that glorious reflection of heaven. We stop thinking how can I help this person and start thinking how can I know this person.
It's a huge shift; one I'm in the middle of making. It's sloppy, very messy. The ego does not die peacefully because it is rooted in a true notion: we are divine and we all deserve to be treated like kings. But ego is a distorted version of that truth because it is built on one enormous, big fat lie: that there isn't enough divinity to go around. God-matter is infinite and includes everything, including snails. You don't have to compete to be part of divinity. You are it.
Whatever shitheads we are right now, recognizing divinity is unlimited and free to all, from kings and popes and prophets to pugs and snails absolutely guarantees we will eventually be shitheads no more. You cannot begin to recognize the nature of God and not want to emulate it. I now patiently wait to leave my shithead-self behind. It's coming. I can feel it approach slowly, day by day by day, and now, just slightly more removed from my ego then yesterday, I can sometimes actually relax and lean back and watch the show.
Once you recognize you are both worthless to society and of infinite worth to God, the ego dissolves, and you are totally free. No longer needing escape, and no longer needing approval, thou mayest do as you please. But at the point of freedom--the only point you can truly be free--you will always choose to do good. It will be impossible to do otherwise. Demolishing the ego is not only the only path to real freedom; it also the only path to full alignment with God.
But knowing that is not becoming that. Experience, not knowledge, fuels change. We have to will ourselves closer and closer to that state of being through our thoughts, actions, and revisions. What can I learn from this now to approach my next now more open, more fully, with less fear and more love? How can I better see God matter in absolutely everyone and everything?
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