This week: You Are Worthy Edited by: Jeff  
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"Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief."
— C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of the regular editors of the official Spiritual Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site in that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me directly or submit feedback in the comment box at the bottom of this newsletter. |
You Are Worthy
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character of Thor is a Norse god of lightning, thunder, and storms who wields a magical hammer named Mjolnir. Mjolnir helps Thor amplify and focus his power, and it bears an inscription on it which reads, "whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." Many of the Marvel movies feature a plot point where Thor's hammer cannot be lifted by those who are not worthy, including in Avengers: Age of Ultron where all the other Avengers take turns trying to lift it as a party game, and then in Avengers: Endgame (spoiler alert for a movie that's been out for five years), when Captain America successfully lifts the hammer and is able to use it to fight Thanos.
Many spiritual disciplines address the issue of inherent value and worthiness of human beings (and in many cases, other living creatures). In Christian theology (and Judaism and Islam), human beings have inherent value because they are created in God's image. Many Hindu practices are built around the idea that each person is inherently divine and should seek to realize the divinity within themselves. In Buddhism, the goal is to escape the human cycle of life and rebirth by achieving nirvana.
I've been thinking about the concept of human life a lot lately, especially after a number of conversations I've had with people about the current state of affairs with the United States' policies under the new administration. There's a lot of debate (some in good faith, some not) about the nuances of a policy. For example, whether illegal immigrants are entitled to due process. Or whether the number of people emigrating to the United States qualifies as an "invasion" for the purposes of suspending habeas corpus. Or whether the government can determine that someone's free speech is a threat to national security or foreign policy. There's definitely no shortage of legal and philosophical conundrums these days!
Where it feels like a lot of these conversations go wrong (as well as conversations about specific political positions or ideologies) is that they don't see people as individuals who have inherent value. Democrats, Republicans, immigrants, citizens, permanent residents, trans individuals, Congresspeople, Administration officials, students, the one percenters, etc. often get treated as a monolith, which can have a dehumanizing effect, because it allows us to talk about the whole, rather than the individual.
Regardless of the topic of conversation, if we're coming into it from the perspective of not recognizing each other's humanity and inherent value as human beings, we're already starting off on the wrong foot. We're creating antagonism and conflict that will make it hard to even see each other as equals, much less reach a compromise on complicated subjects for which there are a variety of opinions about how to address them. In order to reach a consensus or compromise, it usually necessitates acknowledging the place where the other person started, and that's really difficult to do if you're stereotyping, generalizing, or making assumptions.
In his first address to the news media, the newly anointed Pope Leo XIV called for reporters to choose "the path of a communication of peace," and encouraged everyone to "disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred; let us free it from aggression." He said, "We do not need loud, forceful communication but rather communication that is capable of listening."
I think that's a great reminder to all of us that we should pursue peace and listen to one another at every opportunity... and all of that starts by coming into conversation from a place where we value one another and see each other as inherently worthy.
Until next time,
Jeff
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Spiritual: May 14, 2025 Issue [#13136]
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