On 'Birthing' Equal Perception
by Adam Abraham
May/June 2004
SACRAMENTO — If placed "on the spot" and asked to answer without prior warning, most reasonable people will readily agree with the idea that all human beings are, under the surface, "equal." Indeed, the self-evident idea that "all men are created equal," which spawned the American Revolution, is one of the cornerstones of the Declaration of Independence. It was so powerful because it was not a revelation, but a courageous declaration of an already known, but unspoken Truth. It stood out as no longer a secret or deniable, in stark contrast to the reality that was life in 18th Century prenatal America.
The Truth of human equality really did set America free. While the British didn't agree, the principle of equality held within it the power to defeat what was then the greatest nation on earth. An even more powerful country came into being, on the principle of individual freedom and social equality. Principle? Yes. Practice? Well, not exactly.
We now know, over two and one-quarter centuries later, that "equality" was not put into practice in America. Equality's "self-evidence" gave way to pragmatic, downright ignorant, and oftentimes inhumane rationalization. America was still "freer" than other countries. Some were treated as human equals. Emphatically, selected others were not. They tended to be anyone considered "new," which most immigrants were. They had to carve out places in the social structure for themselves. Finally, some Americans were willing to fight to keep certain others from ever being free. They would eventually lose that fight too.
The Founding Truth wouldn't go away. Its power was, and is unwavering and undaunted. Through a Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement, the principle of equality continued to shine brightly like the sun while the obscuring clouds of human dissonance passed by, sometimes ever so slowly. Equality shines today just as brightly as a yet unrealized promise. Progress has been, and is being made. The question of the moment is, do Americans believe that we are "equal" today enough to put it into practice, and actually live that way?
How about you?
Some people will think this is a trick question. If they say, "yes, we are equal," irrespective of surface appearances, then it will be hard to reconcile their support for some very unkind views, and unequal treatment of others, particularly with respect to public and social issues relating to governance. It will be hard to rationalize their calls for preferential "rights" for some groups that abridge the equal rights of others simply due to a de facto assumption of extra need, because of their racial, or ethnic background. Such assumptions contribute more to our social malaise than they benefit those they are meant to "help."
"Liking" who or what we think others are, or what they do, or what they believe, is not germane to whether they are equal in the eyes, mind, or heart of their Creator. If they are "here" – meaning present on Earth and motating in a physical body – they weren't created by any man-made process. As such, it is germane to question why – after a revolution and Civil War, laws passed, and countless lives lost to make equality a reality in America – some people today are trying to preserve unequal policies and practices under the guise of "creating equality."
One rationale is that they do it because great disparities exist due to past inequities. And that is true. But today's disparities persist because of today's inequities. We still believe that some people don't have what it takes – intelligence, skills, wherewithal, wits, the guts – to change their lives around. What's worse, most of the believers of such drivel are the actual people who want and need to change the most. If they don't believe in themselves, and their innate, self-evident equality as human beings, then they will continue looking to, or for someone else to make things better for them. It is therefore important to affirm human equality, every chance we get.
Life will not get "better" for anyone who doesn't seek, find, and exercise a better place within him or herself. This doesn't mean that all human disagreement and conflict will go away. It doesn't mean all will become millionaires. But it does mean that our problems will be put into better perspective, and have a better chance of being resolved peaceably, with less animosity. It also means that cooperation will increase, which enhances our communities, making "winners" of all. Embracing and giving birth to equal perception under the Law of Being is one starting point in this process, but it is a major one. It is a profound step that each must choose, and then make on their own.
Adam Abraham is author of I Am My Body, NOT! (www.phaelos.com/iambn.html) and A Freed Man: An Emancipation Proclamation (www.phaelos.com/afm.html), with a third title, I Am Spirit! due to be published later this year. For more information, send an email to adam@phaelos.com.
Copyright © 2004 Adam Abraham. All rights reserved.