I think it’s safe to say that the majority of people alive today agree that all humans—regardless of their socio-economic status or genetic differences—possess the same intrinsic biological and psychological value from birth. Yet, the practical value that our societies attribute to the individual varies widely. The geographical location and time of a person’s birth seem to determine their real-world value, even in an era where applied science has unlocked unprecedented abundance.

Where once natural constraints were the most divisive force in allocating practical value, one might ask why we have not yet closed the gap between the intrinsic value we agree on and the practical, real-world value that is distributed. Is it really a matter of abundance?

More abundance is probably not going to close this gap. Even though it seems possible to provide adequate living conditions for everyone alive today, we appear to be stuck in a cycle of love-blocking anxiety—fear that someone will take our freedoms away. We continue hoarding resources at the expense of those unable to effectively articulate or assert their needs. Unlocked abundance may relieve our suffering temporarily, but fear inevitably draws us back into hoarding behavior.

Our histories are filled with trauma-inducing experiences, carried involuntarily across generations. It’s as if everyone wants the water to be still, yet we have this tendency to stir it up. In prolonged periods of peace, we often succumb to greed and willfully neglect our responsibilities. This heaping of negligence inevitably causes some edge to erode into the water, stirring us all into reaction. Depending on how truthfully we share our intentions, we end up either restoring the edge—or eroding more of it, escalating the cycle.

We deserve the world we have today. We are all responsible, dead or alive. It is how we choose to react while we are alive—on a nano, micro, or macro level—that will shape the world we pass on to the next generation. If all we do is attribute blame to one another, surely we’ll pass on a world worse than the one we received. Won’t we?

What am I willfully neglecting?