What is the human essence of being?
When we are children, the beauty of innocence compensates for the lack of wisdom. As we grow old, wisdom should compensate for the loss of innocence.
Socrates, the Buddha, Confucius, and many more sages, they all strived for a higher purpose in life than the pursuit of money and power and recognized the importance of knowing oneself and, therefore, respecting oneself.
Yet, only the Son of the carpenter, AKA Jesus Christ, was able to truly know Himself.
Knowing oneself means having a clear understanding of one’s fundamental purpose in life. In other words being the master of one’s life and not the slave of one’s circumstances whether these may be plenty of money and power or the lack of them.
Respecting oneself means acting in accordance with one’s understanding of the fundamental purpose in life. In other words, being true to oneself.
Jesus Christ said it succinctly “Only the truth shall set you free.”
What is the truth, though?
The truth is precisely knowing and respecting oneself.
Most humans live a life of timid mediocrity…concerned with the banal and trivial…fooling themselves into thinking that once they amass enough money and power they will be happy…thus living in a constant pursuit of happiness — ignorant of the fact that happiness is a matter of attitude and hence not to be pursuit but lived.
Others prefer to follow a religion of comfortableness.
A world that shies from the risk of striving from greatness…shunning higher values by celebrating the mundane and mediocre, is doomed.
Neither Capitalism nor communism have worked because both have enslaved humanity by taking extreme positions in a world that requires a dynamic balance.
Capitalism focused on extracting the maximum surplus value from workers at any and all costs, which is obviously unsustainable.
While communism focused on extracting the maximum value from private employers, thus driving them to extinction and/or exile.
Unless and until there is a critical mass of educated citizens that puts the common good based on ethical, moral and spiritual values over individual interests, humanity will continue to suffer from the tragedy of the commons, extreme positions, and corruption.
Some narcissistic fools may think that they have achieved greatness by becoming president of a country while being ignorant of the fact that, firstly, this is a job; And secondly, that being president of a country implies far more obligations and responsibilities than rights and privileges.
While our growing pains are still evident all over the world, there is hope in a brighter future as more people realize that they are much more than just a mortal body as they become spiritually awaken and the consciousness of the entire humanity continues to further develop.
The essence of human existence is to transcend the mundane by tapping into its Divinity.
We are either the masters of our life … . or the slaves of our circumstances.
If we do not have a crystal-clear understanding of the highest possible purpose of our life, we live a life of slavery . . . just like any other creature within this dimension of time and space.
The choice is ours!
JC Wandemberg Ph.D.
President & Founder
Sustainable Systems International
About the author: Dr. Wandemberg is an international consultant and stocks trader, keynote speaker, published author, professor, and analyst of economic, environmental, social, managerial, marketing, and political issues. For the past 30 years Dr. Wandemberg has collaborated with corporations, communities, and organizations to integrate sustainability through self-transformation processes and Open Systems Design Principles, thus, catalyzing a Culture of Trust, Transparency, and Integrity.