Humans are story creatures. For our story to hold meaning and for our story to have a satisfying and life-affirming arc, the story’s ending must aim to accomplish the delivery of something of high value, delivered to someone or something we love. A slave is a person robbed of the opportunity to convey (to his progeny or the next generation) the most beautiful reasons for which life-itself is good.
A slave is a person robbed of their birthright initiation––– the initiation that transmits life’s awe and beauty. Awe emerges when we observe the relationships between 1) the natural contents of the landscape, 2) our human place in that landscape, and 3) the responsibilities we’re invited to enjoy as participants in that landscape.
When we fall in love with both Earth and Tribe, hence fall in love with the essential and immutable relationships of life, we give these relationships the greatest value. Only when we fall in love with something worthy will we define ourselves by the sacrifices we make to give it our care. (By the word love, I mean awe, gratitude, and respect… for Creation; I do not mean narcissistic addiction to pleasure or a personal identity that clings to object-symbols used to fill the void of a meaningless life). What value can we give to even our own lives if we have nothing or no one to sacrifice for? A slave is someone deprived of this birthright, someone without any precious offering (initiation) to deliver the next generation. There can be no satisfying death for someone with a life that’s failed to deliver (to their progeny) the beautiful story–––the story that reveals the great WHY we bother to live whatsoever.
A slave works their entire life but has nothing to deliver and no one to deliver it to. No matter how socially integrated the slave is, and no matter how many children they call their own, they ultimately live in a rubber room, alone, witling away on behalf of their master. To create a slave, one need only deprive them of the human initiation; the rest of this crime unfolds naturally.
If this initiation is not at your fingertips, thus if not considered the most treasured asset you carry on behalf of your children’s future, then you are asleep, and it isn’t by accident. The slave has no way to perceive liberty and will concede more of it each day in exchange for a pittance of pleasure and comfort. Why? The person who has nothing of great value to transfer to their progeny, has no use for liberty. Why would freedom be of value to the person who makes no attempt to sacrifice for their beloveds? Delivering something of great beauty to its rightful destination is what fulfills our personal destiny. If we have nothing to deliver and no one to deliver it to, then destiny has no meaning, freedom has no meaning, and in fact, to such a person, life has no meaning. When our notion of destiny dies, meaning dies, then liberty dies.
When a culture has killed the story of life’s magnificence, its people will have nothing of great value to deliver their kin. Hence, when life becomes meaningless and story-less, liberty becomes something people will trade for an iPad, a cupcake, a sportscar, an Instagram following, and a heap of pharmaceuticals. The good news is that a people with no story, have no reason to procreate, and even if they do procreate, their children will be miserable, will kill themselves, kill each other, and will eventually die out. Contrarily, the people who live with a destiny, live for a worthy reason–––to carry and deliver a story of awe.
The slave does not want liberty and does not love liberty. The slave just wants to feel comfortable and will grasp at any word their puppeteers promise will offer relief, be it words like liberty, justice, hope, democracy, equity, morality, fairness, etc. It doesn’t matter which subverted, hijacked, or misused word is being broadcast across their screen, because what the slave ends up with, will only be more of what they already have, which is slavery. Ask any enslaved person the responsibilities that come with freedom. They do not know; they do not care, which is why they pursue power at all costs, and that power is always at the expense of truth, liberty, responsibility, justice, and most of all, their humanness.
If you are a slave, living in the darkness, we invite you to begin your journey toward the cave’s exit. If you are not a slave, then it’s time to unite destinies with those who at all costs will protect the delivery of our humanness to our children and to their children.
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