We Are all Created Equal

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal”- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

This week on my IC show, I had a lovely conversation with Danny Cobbin. When I asked Danny how and when he first came across the Principles, he explained with a slight hesitation that it had only been about a year ago. His comment struck a chord in me. How many of us innocently compare ourselves and how qualified we are to talk on a subject, based on how long or how deeply we have studied it. I told him that one of the things I love most about the Principles was that there isn’t any seniority or hierarchy concept. The simple fact that Sydney Banks, a Scottish welder with a ninth-grade education, saw what he saw gives us all hope. His life changed from one moment to the next based on an enlightenment experience. The other thing I love about this community is the humility in which our teachers share this understanding. One of my Mentors, Linda Pransky, once told me a story about a client of hers who was new to the Principles. After spending only a few hours together, her client experienced an insight that was so profound, Linda felt that he had seen something more in-depth than she had ever seen. With zero ego, she told me that she was ready for him to teach her! She shared this story to illustrate the point that the Principles can’t be understood through the intellect. When listening to my teachers, I am encouraged to listen for a feeling as opposed to the words they are saying. It doesn’t matter whether you have been around the Principles for decades or just a few months. If you have an insight that changes your life, that alone is all that matters. That’s not to say, of course, that there isn’t always more to see. I know that the more I look in this direction, my grounding has deepened over the years, and I am grateful for that. But I don’t believe consciousness is something that can be measured by effort and time spent studying. On the contrary, it comes from less ‘doing’ and more ‘being.’ I love the fact that I can let go of judging myself and comparing myself to others who may have been around the Principles far longer than me. But it wasn’t always that way. Growing up in a culture where class distinction was the norm, as a young child, I was acutely aware of my status in life. I was raised in Wales, a country within the United Kingdom that was looked down upon and judged as provincial by the English. Not only did I grow up on the wrong side of the tracks, but I was also born on the wrong side of the blanket. A quaint expression used to describe a child born out of wedlock. My mother came from working-class parents, but through her hard work and determination, she single-handedly managed to raise seven children and elevate our status to upper-middle class. Influenced by my mother and the society I grew up in, I spent my youth vacillating between feeling ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ others. Thank god, that is not the case anymore. Looking back, I have so much compassion for my younger self, who didn’t know any better. In my ignorance, I didn’t know that we are all born equal. You see, my mother was an atheist, so concepts such as “we are all god’s children and equal in his eyes” were foreign to me. I had innocently inherited my mother’s low self-esteem and need to feel better about herself by comparing herself against everyone else. Up until coming across the Principles, I would measure myself against others, and more often than not, I managed to fall short. What an exhausting and futile waste of time that was. It has been such a relief to know at the depth of my being that we are all created equal. That at our spiritual essence, we are all one and the same. Of course, we all show up in our unique individual ways in the physical world of form. These days, instead of determining my self-worth based on comparing myself to others, I celebrate our differences. I give thanks for the richness and diversity it brings to my life. The freedom to show up just as I am has been both thrilling and liberating.

With love and appreciation, Del💕