The Challenge of Seeing Ourselves as Equal

From the "Declaration of Independence" of the United States, adopted July 4, 1776:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The United Nations, in December of 1948 adopted "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights", the first Article of which reads:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

How amazingly easy it is to accept that we are all equal as an inspiring phrase, yet how challenging it is to accept in practice.

Think about how you feel when you see a destitute man on a street corner, unbathed, unshaved, perhaps emaciated, perhaps begging for a handout, perhaps unable to make eye contact with other humans. What's your reaction? Pity? Hope? Appreciation that "there but for the grace of God go I"? Do you ever, in any way, look at such a human and see a powerful creation of god, or feel a connection in spirit with such a person?

Think about how you would feel (or perhaps have felt) if your most trusted, admired, cherished, human being were to come and visit you in person. Would you see them as equal to yourself, or would you feel small in comparison?

Think about how you would feel if an 'other worlder', or alien being, were to land in your back yard in their splendid space vehicle. Would you feel equal to said being? Would you listen in reverence and awe? Would you subjugate yourself to them, believing that they are more knowing, more powerful, more deserving than you? Would you be afraid, thinking that they have some power over you?

Do you see 'teachers' as higher, better, smarter, more powerful .. and 'students' as lower, lesser, dumber, less powerful'?

It's an interesting phenomenon that goes on in human beings. Sometimes we feel superior, sometimes we feel inferior. Sometimes we get pretty righteously indignant about how superior we believe we are. Sometimes we get frighteningly powerless at how inferior we feel we are. How often are the times when we 'feel' completely equal to another? Not better, nor worse, but honoring another, and honoring ourselves, as equal expressions of a universal whole?

We each have so much to experience with each other, and learn from each other. Truly, in all senses of the word, we are the same. Exactly the same. And yet .. completely different. We each are creations of the One, Prime Creator. Just as a cell in the human body divides itself to become two of the same rather than two halves, such is every creation of god a complete representation of the whole. And yet different.

Those differences are important, even crucial, to the expansion of consciousness, to the growth and experience of All That Is. And yet we want to label each other as good or bad, see each other as better or worse, more powerful or less, more deserving or less.

As we move forward into our future I hope we will more and more and more realize how very much alike we are, begin to really accept each other as equals no matter what we look like, no matter what we do, no matter what we think. I hope we'll stop feeling inferior and giving our power away, and stop trying to feel superior—or even just feel better—by taking power from others. We really, truly, are all in this together. And what a wonderful thing that is!