Downward Nobility

My favorite phrase for balancing the good of the whole with the good of the individual is this one: downward nobility. Right within the expression itself is the secret I've observed to individuals being willing to dramatically sacrifice for the good of the whole.

The term "Downward Nobility" is not original to me. Watts Wacker, a futurist who was with the Stanford Research Institute think tank when he published an article in 1997 about the Dream Era in history projecting what we are now seeing quietly spring into reality was my first source for uncovering and thinking about the pairing of those words--downward and nobility--in stark contrast to the Upward Mobility trend of past decades.

The secret to a willingness to go Down instead of Up the ladder, is a recognition of the Nobility and ownership that already exists. I once attended a seminar in early childhood development that provides a tangible picture of the psychology behind this. The presenter emphasized how difficult it is for children to share anything with another child before they reach the age of 3. Something developmentally happens by the time a child is 3 that allows her or him to understand the concept of ownership. Try taking something away from a 2-yr. old and giving it to another and your ears will let you know immediately the developmental phase of understanding ownership which allows for sharing has not been mastered yet! But once the concept of ownership is finally grasped, the child becomes much freer with sharing possessions.

The dynamics are similar for adults. Much of the materialism of our culture arises from being stuck as grown-up toddlers who haven't yet deeply enough learned the secret of how worthy each of us is individually and how deeply the whole belongs to us. We run around frantically trying to collect things to prove we are valuable and that we are "owners" and that we are special. We haven't learned yet that it's already all ours. The whole belongs to all of us. To enjoy. And to take care of. We're not going to increase our individual worth or value by greedily stockpiling as much as we can gather around us like frantic 2- yr. olds trying to make sure no one takes what they're not sure belongs to them in the first place.

When we find ourselves frantically chasing material belongings, we have lost sight of the fact that we are already Nobility and the proud owners of the Whole. We are Princes and Princesses, Kings and Queens, Knights and Ladies, who have the incredible privilege of enjoying and caring for all of the people and the planet as a whole. That's what the new Nobility will soon look like. Our new Upper Classes will one day be the people who have tapped so deeply into that truth and allowed it to permeate their behaviors that they are free to enjoy without being driven to possess and to hold all they own with open hands for the world around them to freely share.

If you know you own it all, you don't have to hoard anything. You can let it all go at any moment for the good of the whole, trusting you will have exactly what you need in your hour of lack in return. Instead of the picture of a panicked 2-yr. old screaming over the departing object that has just been pried out of his or her hands, life can become a great adventure in which what you have is taken and multiplied for the good of others when you share it. Then you can watch as the love and energy and joy that comes back to you wraps around you like a rich and fulfilling romance with the whole. That's what we're hungering for in our toddler-like states anyway: adventure and romance. And we have nothing to lose if we give it all away--IF we recognize who we already are and what we already own.

Spiritual experiences are the new status symbols Watts Wacker projected back in '97 for this era in history--replacing material possessions. The shift has already strongly begun. I started my coaching business in '98 foreshadowing much of what I now see coming more strongly into play globally. Spiritually intense retreats around the topic of individuality and worth became one of the most popular services I offered. People paid the kind of money normally spent on latest entertainment devices or major wardrobe pieces or vacations to sit around with a small group of people and discover what made each person 100% unique and therefore irreplaceable and of infinite value to the whole. The deeper that kind of work went, the more passion and purpose each had and the freer each became at letting go of material possessions.

When you know who you are and the global Treasure you are as part of this New Nobility that every person alive can belong to, dramatically simplifying your tastes and your belongings for the good of the whole becomes second nature. It is the natural outflow. You automatically find yourself willing to go Downward instead of just up and up and up, because you recognize you were already at the top to begin with. Mother Teresa who lived one of the most non-material lifestyles on the history books continues to top "most admired people" lists no matter how materialistic our culture becomes. And I believe that admiration is the hidden Downward Nobility in each of us longing to be the kind of people who are known for giving it all away but unsure how to deeply enough own our own royalty enough that we feel free to do it. Let's be a part of starting that trend--of mirroring for each other our Nobility on a daily basis so we become more and more comfortable with letting the material things go and having the incredible spiritual experiences that giving and sharing and caring about the whole bring.