This Is Who We Are

This Is Why We’re Here

Human. This one word includes us all.

Our highest calling is to create a world for all humanity. This inspiration shares many names — global consciousness, the millennial age, the zeitgeist. What they all describe is the connected, freedom-seeking and inclusive impulses of our generation.

Human means more than race, gender and nation—more than culture, religion and class. More than politics and profession. Human means more than “us and them.”

Because we are all.

Now is the time for a human society. We each have a role to play. Our job is to remake the world—beyond everything that seeks to divide it. This won’t happen on its own. And no one else will do this job.

The future of the world depends on us.

The previous age will resist. It was built on different rules, different values. It spoke of races, divisions and generalizations. It didn’t see the human face. Our present age is about human values. We need to articulate, practice and live them — clearly, simply, forcefully. We are messengers of humanity. There are millions of us, in every corner of the world. This is the new community — it’s global and local — and it’s huge.

And we have work to do.

There is inner work and outer work. The inner work is to experience the human in ourselves and every other person. To see beyond appearances, beyond opinions and personas— to each person’s inner essence. To speak from and to that essence.

Every day. In every interaction.

Seeing others for who they are — and are becoming.

The outer work is to recreate our social structures. We are moving from one age to the next. The previous age is already over — but we’ve only begun building the new one. We live in the ruins of the past. That’s why so much feels so uncomfortable. Now everything needs to be reimagined. Redesigned. Recreated. In the most human, inclusive way.

Let’s learn how to live as unique individuals, together in community. Let’s build a world that supports this. This has never happened before.

We are the pioneers.

In both our inner and outer actions, we can ask ourselves a question: How can I help human beings?

There are many answers, but this question is the core. Abstract ideas like standardized education miss the point because they don’t account for the individual human being. Abstract solutions are tools of the previous age, attempting to solve problems of the present. This will never work.

The world now needs inspired solutions, focused on the deepest needs of each individual and the planet.

This requires a new way of thinking. One we’re rarely taught in schools. It requires seeing every human being as important —with unique needs, unique gifts and potential. It requires setting the unique development of each individual as our goal and building structures that support it. This can become our prime motivation. Into this we can throw all our forces.

In every part of life — as we redesign — we can ask: How am I helping human beings unfold their uniqueness?

In reimagining and recreating community, government, economics, education, health and healing, architecture, art, farming, philosophy, science, sex, relationships and so much more — let’s search for, explore and apply our answers to this question.

We’re already doing this. Let’s continue.

Gather those who are interested, have them voice their expressions. What we need to hear is their truth. This takes receptivity and openness. We want to build social structures that meet our deepest human needs. Put these into practice, even on the smallest scale. Evaluate the process. How is this working for us? Refine as needed. Share with others.

Imagine what is possible. Imagine education that sees each child as a unique human being and tailors itself to each child’s growth. Imagine government in the service of every citizen, existing to protect our human rights. Imagine an economy that meets our human needs with meaningful products and meaningful work.

Imagine art whose goal is illumination and wonder.

Imagine philosophy that leads to truth, relationships that encourage our most authentic selves, healthcare that knows how to strengthen the human spirit, rather than merely fix its body. Imagine community that nurtures, supports and uplifts each of its members.

The future of the world is not an update.

It’s a newborn baby.

Let’s be inspired by the most — and best — we can imagine. Let’s push ourselves to try, succeed and fail — and keep going. The future of humanity is waiting for us. All that’s required is our fullest participation in creating it. This work is our task—and our reward. This is what we asked for. This is what we wanted.

This is who we are.

A version of this essay is included in Order Of The Sacred Earth, Monkfish Book Publishing, 2018