Respect the Worker
The snowflake, a thing of inspiration, mystery, beauty, delicacy, exquisiteness, and manifestation of an intelligence, with other snowflakes forms the snow covering the ugly and the mundane making these beautiful and significant. In doing this, the beauty of each snowflake is seen but without coming together forming snow this beauty slips away.
You, me, family, friends, neighbors, strangers, each of us is capable of inspiration, mystery, beauty, delicacy, exquisiteness, and intelligence. With a developed capacity, each of us with others forms humanity transforming the ugly, the mundane, and evil into beauty, significance, and the good.
Like the snowflake fulfilling its purpose in forming snow, the purpose of each of us is fulfilled in forming humanity, a gathering together of human beings possessing a developed capacity.
The snowflake is formed when extremely cold droplets freeze onto a pollen or dust particle in the sky creating ice crystals. As the crystal descends water vapor freezes onto the crystal building new crystals becoming snowflakes. No two snowflakes are the same, but each possesses (seldom broken) six sides.
The following of this pre-determined formula, external to the snowflake, gives us the snowflake. The snow, many snowflakes coming together, acts as an extension of this pre-determined formula external to the snowflake.
The same is true of man. The following of the pre-determined formula, external to man, but applicable to man, is necessary for each man to be of inspiration, mystery, beauty, delicacy, exquisiteness, and intelligence forming a humanity of illumination.
The flower, as with all, and the snowflake, achieves its purpose, its destiny, unique to the flower by following the pre-determined formula (rules) applicable to the flower. Man, too, achieves his purpose, his destiny, unique to man by following the pre-determined formula (rules) applicable to man. These rules are external, not internal.
Common to the flower, as with all and man, is a shared purpose, a destiny to develop that purpose, that destiny, unique to each. But the flower, as with all and man, cannot achieve this purpose, this destiny, without help external to the flower as with all and man.
The flower as with all and man each possesses the potency (capacity) to achieve is purpose, its destiny. Common to each is a potency. Common is the necessity of an external cause to take this potency and achieve the purpose, the destiny, unique to each.
The potency of the flower develops by a cause external to it. The potency of man develops by a cause external to man.
The flower, planted in the soil with the right minerals, nourished by the rain receiving the sunshine grows from a seed reaching upward towards the sky flowering the world. The seed of the flower possesses a potency, the development of which is its destiny, but this destiny requires the external cause, soil, water, and sunshine.
Man is no different. He, too, possesses a potency, the development of which is his destiny. Following rules of development, applicable to man, as the flower does, man grows and together shines. Each is like a snowflake and when together like the snow shines near and far.
Necessary to this potency becoming an actuality, reaching its destiny, is the discovery of truth. The flower can only develop reaching its destiny if done in conformity with truth. The same is true of man. To man, these rules are called morality.
For the flower there is no discovery. It just happens. For man this discovery is a struggle, and it is this struggle that becomes history.
Central to this struggle is freedom from hunger, physical restraints, with freedom to think, to ponder, to question, to think, free of bias, prejudice, dogma, and conventionality. It is in this freedom where free will is discovered for freedom and free will cannot exist without each other.
History is the struggle to develop this freedom acknowledging freedom as a necessity, a pre-requisite, a condition precedent, to man’s development in all his forms and manifestations. Man being a social being, a spiritual being, a physical being, demands this freedom.
Like the flower, man possesses a potency unique to him. Unlike the flower, development of this potency cannot happen unless man has the freedom to develop this potency.
Central to this freedom is a system appreciating man’s role in the economy. Failure of this appreciation denies to man the freedom necessary to a useful and full life, and the rightful benefits and fruits of his labor. An economy wherein man is preoccupied in securing food, clothing, shelter, and safety denies to man the basics needed for freedom.
A system where each man struggles to survive the day, the potency unique to man cannot be developed. It is the economic order in which we live where the struggle plays out.
A system denying these benefits and fruits denies man his freedom. Denial of these benefits and fruits in the economic order in turn gives us a political and social order denying to man his rightful place. Leads to a world where in the arena of ideas, of religion, man becomes an insignificant participant, a follower not enjoying freedom and free will stiffening the potency unique to man, denying to man his destiny.
Through a system acknowledging these benefits and fruits by empowering man, the worker, with control of the economic market, freedom and free will become his way of life. The political order reflects this.
The economic order becomes a function of the worker causing man to be a participant, not a follower. Control of the arena of ideas, of religion reflects this.
Essential is the worker owning the workplace making being a part of the economic process in a meaningful way. Being in an economic system respecting the worker by having the worker own the business for which he works brings ownership with all the benefits of Ownership. Through this ownership the potency of man is developed.
History is a struggle of man to effectuate what the Greeks called “Eros”, the desire to have what man does not have. This effectuation takes place through the struggle to control one’s life. This desire is frustrated by the struggle to survive, to pay one’s bills, to care for one’s children, to live safely. Frustrated by the failure to be part of the process, to be reduced to that of follower, of little, if any, significance.
With the benefits of the economy justly owned by the worker, the political order being a function of the economy works to the benefit of the worker. Division goes away. Come to see the person next to you as a brother. Less conflict ensues.
What we have now is not this. Each is kept in a state of struggling by an economy creating an elite whose goal is to expand their wealth at the expense of the worker. An economy reflected in a political order whose goal is to control the worker for the benefit of the elite at the expense of the worker.
There is a failure to respect the capacity, the potency, in each, a failure to acknowledge and appreciate that common to each is an individualized beauty. This failure negates togetherness, sense of duty to the polity, citizenship. And worse.
When the elite disagree among themselves, it is the worker with his blood and sacrifice who participates in the conflict not the elite. A different potency, a potency of ugliness and evil, is developed giving us the potency of conflict.