All human beings are sacred

Our place is not earned

Imagine a world, organization or family where the fundamental relationship with others is as a community where no one is ever left behind.

In the late 1930s, Abraham Maslow was postulating his hierarchy of needs and spent time with the Blackfoot in Canada.

He found that they experienced life as highly satisfying and became curious as to why — especially given that most people of our Western culture were not very happy.

He discovered that there was no system of hierarchy or dominance. People were cooperative and mostly treated each other equally. They felt secure and good about themselves, whereas in the Western culture, most did not.

Children were treated as equal members of society. They lived as fully developed human beings from the time of birth. They believed that a person arrives here inherently wise and sacred, infused with divinity.

The Blackfoot way was to provide the conditions and nurture necessary to draw that sacredness out and allow the person to fully express what they are here to be and express. The person then lives up to that, knowing that they are inherently wise, sacred, loved and nurtured by the community.

In the Western culture, people have to prove themselves, do things that provide sufficient credentials. We go to school, get a degree and then we are somebody or on the road to being somebody. We must have a title, a position society respects, have a great deal of money, be famous, be a successful businessperson, and so on. We have to earn our place in the world.

No one is a nobody. Everyone is innately intelligent, loving and sacred.

Maybe we can begin to consider living another way. Now. In our families, organizations, communities and the world.

We can see the person we are having lunch with as a divine being, imbued with a divine spark. That knowing can touch them — in their heart, their being. They experience one sacred being connecting with another sacred being.

Maybe they aren’t fully expressing what they came here to express yet because of our cultural conditioning and practices. Our seeing them as who they truly are pours water on a seed. It can grow.

Imagine the world where no one is left behind and everyone expresses the unique sacred being they are.

Peggy O’Neal has coached leaders, entrepreneurs and lawyers throughout the world for more than 35 years after practicing law for 12, is a Certified Integral Master Coach, and holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas. Connect with her at peggy@peggy-oneal.com.