Two Worlds 9: The Collective Hero

the lowering of imaginary walls that we put between each other

Hello hero,

2020 huh.

I'd be surprised if you don't know I live in Nashville, TN. Many of the readers of Two Worlds do as well. For those that don't, I'm sure that you have heard about the tornado that hit our city and the tornadoes that also hit other towns across Middle Tennessee. I won't replay the event fully here, but I will say we are in the early stages of a very long recovery process, both materially and emotionally.

Of course, this is not the only thing happening in the world right now. We are in a global "high risk" (as defined by the World Health Organization) situation with the spread of COVID-19. This virus is not only impacting people's health around the world, but our global economy as well.

When humanity's frailty is put on display as it is right now, we are reminded that just as we each are on our individual hero's journey, so is the entire human race as a collective hero. When things are 'fine,' we can falsely discriminate and differentiate between each other, choosing competition and elitism as our way of life over cooperation and collaboration.

Of course, it seems that COVID-19 and tornadoes do not see us this way. They don't discriminate or differentiate between us. Nature's laws don't deal in our senseless debates and certainly don't engage in gaslighting. To nature, it's simple; we are a single human race. If we work together, while we may suffer losses, we have the chance to survive and thrive. If we don't, well...

I am very sad to see lives lost to both the tornadoes last week in Middle Tennessee and COVID-19 around the world. I am also encouraged by the lowering of imaginary walls that we put between each other, and the sense of human oneness that I have seen as we realize the hero in this larger narrative is 'us,' not 'me.'

Our lives are being altered, and it looks like it's just the beginning. Some of us much more than others, but for those of us mostly unaffected so far, it should be obvious that it could have been you, and it still can.

We appear to be moving headfirst into a recession. Many of us are having to accept that our plans are going to have to change. We will need each other. But this is how it has always been. Humans have survived for hundreds of thousands of years because when our narratives got too out of line with nature's truth and nature reminded us of our need to stick together; we stuck together.

This is another step in the human race's hero's journey. Wellbeing, Innovation, Drive, and Entrepreneurship will be needed now to navigate this challenging time as a collective hero to solve the world's most challenging problems. There are significant challenges everywhere, and we are being called to put our talents and our energies toward greater causes than ourselves.

Now is the time for us to see what we are made of; Together. With gratitude for the small things, like seeing another day.

Have a grateful day.