Depending on how you view yourself as an individual and your personal life, religious or not, we all carry within us that atom of autonomy as human beings. I’m revisiting this concept, which I first wrote about long ago in a blog titled “Five Bucks and Dotted Picture.”
Whoever possesses free will also carries the potential of a CEO, and only a CEO understands how to leverage this “fiver.” We cannot deny that each and every one of us holds a powerful gift from God. Yes, I’m referring to our genetically ingrained ability to exercise free will. This ability to make decisions and choices is what I want to delve into first, as it distinguishes us from all other creatures. Free will not only grants us the freedom to choose but also places the real responsibility of our existence squarely on our individual shoulders. Free will is foundational to my blog because, even though many of us currently do not, I believe we are all meant to be CEOs of our own lives. Those who are not have likely been influenced by the politics of belonging from a young, impressionable age.
Regardless of what our sense of belonging may teach us, as adults, we bear personal and individual responsibility for our actions. Since free will assigns individual responsibility to humans, it not only grants them freedom of choice but also positions them as the third variable in life’s grand scheme, enabling us to challenge all politically accepted truths individually.
This is where it begins.
“Five Bucks: Who and What You Potentially Are and Can Be.”
Metaphorically, each of us possesses a divine “five bucks.” If there were a measuring device for intelligence, strength, and the ability to live for oneself while aiding others, we’d find this wisdom of the fiver. This fiver is akin to the ocean and space combined within a single human. Like an atom, throughout history and even today, it has been overlooked not only by individuals but also by entire populations.
How did we venture into space? How did we discover bacteria and viruses? How do humans go where ordinary creatures with wings, claws, or gills cannot? To me, it all boils down to that atom we possess within. It’s not about space exploration, medical breakthroughs, atomic, biological, scientific, or other technological advancements—it’s about the abilities of individual humans. Scientists may argue about the depths of the ocean or the vastness of space, but I say that’s insignificant; delve into yourself to see what lies within. Your five bucks is the real deal because it is a part of the divinity within you, yet unfortunately, you can also choose to align with the Devil.
Let me illustrate your fiver.
Imagine yourself thousands of years ago standing by a riverbank, wanting to cross to the other side. You see a log floating in the water and decide to use it as a raft. This decision seems simple to you today, but it wasn’t so straightforward millennia ago. First, you had to think, which required the ability to plan and act on your plan. Where do you think this ability originated? It didn’t just materialize out of thin air one day.
To me, it cannot be a random or freak occurrence of evolutionary nature—it’s too complex to be mere chance. You may have a thinking brain and a functioning body like a computer, but you need a “runner” to input the data, as a brand-new computer on a shelf does not function on its own. Picture yourself as that brand-new computer—as a baby, you have the brain and body to function, but how is that computer running? It can’t do so independently. Yes, we may have artificial intelligent life, but even that is created by the “runners.” (Back to the riverbank.)
The next step involves gathering branches, weaving them into a raft, finding a large stick to row yourself across. You might think it’s that simple. But how did all of this happen for one person? Even the sophistication of a worm is complex enough to boggle the average individual’s mind. If you genuinely believe everything within you is a random act of evolution, that’s your viewpoint, and I’m glad not all human beings think alike. Scientifically or religiously, we have our differences. Yes, we face challenges, but if everyone thought alike, our progress and evolution wouldn’t have been possible. So, you build the raft and cross the river.
If we metaphorically value wisdom, power, energy, and the ability to accomplish everything at “five bucks,” it applies to every individual. If the entire community collaborates to construct a bridge, everyone can cross back and forth.
Fast forward to today—look at an individual holding a cell phone and then at humanity as a whole. If a small community contributes their five bucks to build a bridge, what could humanity achieve today? We have bridges upon bridges, space stations, and technologies never before seen in history. Everyone in communities can cross rivers or even fly over oceans in record time. Ever wonder how and why it happened? The basic logic is that while a single individual may be weaker than a large family, community, nation, or religion, it all depends on whether they cooperate and function as a unit.
One can be highly intelligent and have ample resources to employ many helping hands for higher-level functions. However, that intelligence still stems from the five bucks you brought with you from before birth. Moving forward to the present day, the coronavirus is our current reality, underscoring the need to share our five bucks with all of humanity, not just a select few.
Confronting challenges like Ebola, Zika, or COVID-19 outbreaks, combating global warming, tackling internet-related crimes, or even constructing space stations all function best and have the greatest meaning when humanity comes together, each contributing their individual five bucks.
An analogy fits here.
A single human cell seems insignificant on its own, but under the right circumstances, combining two can create something profoundly powerful—a fully functioning human being with boundless potential.
We each have trillions of cells in our bodies. Individually, a cell may appear insignificant, but is it? The entire body begins with that single cell, so the importance of each cell should never be forgotten, even as we accumulate trillions of them.
If a community is defined by the collection of individuals but neglects the importance of each individual due to politics, that community risks becoming obsolete, much like a human body with cancer. With nurturing, individuals can generate ideas to strengthen and elevate the community to its fullest potential.
A child may mimic parents but feel restricted by the comparison to fully grown adults. If the child realizes they are not yet grown, it keeps them positive; otherwise, they might accept their limitations and potentially remain dependent on their parents for life. Depending on how they are taught, individuals may fail to recognize the autonomy of their five bucks, idolizing God and limiting themselves as inferior. If they accept this falsehood, they might pray for everything they desire without using their five bucks.
I draw this comparison between God and the human individual because it aligns with one of my philosophical themes—that the human individual is more important than we have been led or conditioned to believe.
Like children, we often place all our impossible burdens on God’s shoulders, expecting divine intervention in every aspect of our lives. Should you find yourself unable to handle a task, it’s admirable to seek divine assistance, but only after exerting your own five bucks. Just as the individual who built a raft to cross the river and then relied on divine help to navigate safely.
The concept of building bridges within communities and coming together to fulfill our social nature originates from God, speaking through human individuals. Thus, all progress made by humanity is also connected to God. Remember, we cannot function without oxygen, over which we have no control whatsoever. Therefore, everything we accomplish during our lifetime receives assistance from this unknown force, whether acknowledged or not. I believe that both humanity’s accomplishments and divine assistance deserve recognition because one provides physicality and the other spirituality. Trying to credit one without the other is like trying to clap with one hand. God and mankind evolve together, their cooperation shaping our shared destiny. Where are we headed? That’s a question we cannot answer until we arrive, so as mortal individuals, we can accept and embrace the unknown, but collectively, we should earnestly seek to uncover the truth.
Common sense dictates that we utilize our five bucks collectively to evolve, while recognizing the child within us who seeks divine assistance. Recall that all progress we have made as humans stems from our individual five bucks, not miracles. There’s a saying that “God helps those who help themselves,” and there’s more truth to it than we are often taught. If you’re alive, you are already utilizing that help; thus, every human advancement owes something to this assistance.
Even today, with the coronavirus pandemic, many believe God is punishing us for disobedience, yet the majority rely on scientists to find a cure. Expecting scientists to solve our problems is natural because they have historically been our primary source of aid. This reliance has persisted despite claims of divine punishment. These are the same people who advocate for religious authorities to dictate every aspect of human life, including the prohibition of scientific progress—from blood transfusions to stem cell research. Such rhetoric has persisted throughout history and continues to this day.
Unfortunately, solutions cannot be found through prayer alone. In ancient times, we sacrificed innocent virgins to appease God, a practice that persisted until religious leaders recognized its injustice and lack of divine response. Interestingly, despite our evolving knowledge, we only recently understood bacteria and viruses. Humanity undergoes crises and dire needs for change before advancing to the next level. Infectious diseases, the internet, space stations, and global warming have continually pointed to the need for humanity to evolve to a higher plane, embracing change rather than clinging to outdated politics of “us versus them.”
God acts through humanity, one individual at a time. Beyond miracles, all physical manifestations of God are often attributed to individuals who embrace faith. Within each of us lies the ability to make good choices, a significant part of humanity’s progression. Knowing that God’s plans are inevitable brings about our self-assessment and makes us realize that the individual within us is more complex than we originally thought.
This is another triangle one has to understand and come to terms with. In the triangle of love, I divided love into three components: Passionate love, Instinctive love, and Universal love.
After equally dividing it, another triangle emerges in the middle, which I call the core triangle and needs to be divided into two parts. By nature, you as an individual consist of a physical side and a spiritual side. Since we have free will, potentially we all are CEOs. Everything comes together if you, as a CEO, can create balance from within. Otherwise, it can be chaotic for you as an individual because if you are influenced by the politics of belonging, you can individually suffer the consequences. So, as a CEO, you should choose to create balance to live a successful mortal life.
Not knowing and understanding love yet living in society can be problematic if one is not a CEO. Learning about the ability to love and be loved, putting things in perspective, can help live a richer mortal life. Love can be as simple as a four-letter word, or you can delve into it to connect it to everything you do as a human individual, spiritually or physically. I divided love into three equal parts and then into two more components. Let’s see how you can use this knowledge to enhance your life.
Knowing love as Passionate Love, Instinctive Love, and Universal Love, and balancing it all including the core of the spiritual and physical sides.
Passionate Love
Instinctive Love Universal Love
The core of the love triangle is divided into two sides. The balance of these two sides depends on the individual, so the spiritual and physical sides of the core are related to this triangle.
You as a CEO
Spirit Physical
Remember I talked about the pendulum—if you pull too much to one side, it will swing back out of control as well. As a mortal human individual, we need to enjoy being physical and spiritual equally; otherwise, mortal life is not ideally lived. God and you reciprocate, so instead of worrying about the carrot and stick philosophy, try to create balance within. God can easily say, “I gave you free will for a reason; why didn’t you use it?” As long as you are committed to spiritual reciprocation, you get to enjoy all the physical bounties God has offered to human beings. If you choose to become celibate like a priest or don’t eat, it is your choice. Would God treat you any better if you commit spiritual crimes in private? Well, you get my point.
Discovering the pain of love loss and core balance.
The strength of the physical side, related business of robbing love or hormone-related rage, revenge, and politics of belonging, is a human fact no one can deny, but we need to evolve and constantly evolve. Our group politics have been in control to keep us in line by force. One has to comply with all the traditions, customs, rituals, and rules of belonging groups, including going to war and killing opposing individuals regardless of their guilt. If their crime is just belonging to another group, it is not a good enough reason to be killed, plain and simple. Regardless of your reason, if you do kill someone, you are robbing someone’s love. That has been a tradition of humanity, and it has to change because we have evolved far enough to understand the pain of love loss, but we still are not evolved enough not to inflict the same pain on others.
Personal actions of robbing love, even from personal relationships to organized killing of each other as groups, need spiritual understanding. If you have an understanding of a CEO, not only could you balance the love triangle, but you can balance your animal or physical instincts with spiritual strength as well. Otherwise, under the political influences of your belonging groups, you will forget about your personal mortal nature and carry on living as an extension of your belonging group. You will disregard your free will in the name of politics and actively keep participating in the business of robbing love. Just look around the world—mob killing of people who look different or belong to opposing groups is common even in this day and age. Our history is full of these examples.
Being a CEO is crucial for all free-will-holding human individuals because our actions should be in the best interest of living a mortal life not only with happiness and contentment but spiritual satisfaction as well. Our wrong decisions can have deep effects on our spiritual and physical well-being. Our health is intertwined with the balance of our core triangle. If you live physically—like eating good food, living in a nice house, driving a nice car, and life is good physically—yet you could be starving spiritually. Food for the soul is not physical; it’s action-based spirituality. If you don’t feed your spiritual side, you may end up unhappy, discontented, or worse, depressed, regardless of all the nice physical things in your life. Sure, physical comfort is important, but without the deep happiness and contentment, mortal life is an impotent experience. All is there, but always something missing.