What if All People are OKAY?
In this counterintuitive case, one can ask WHY it is counterintuitive. Spoiler alert: lack of insight.
Please put aside a possible first dislike of the idea of ALL people being OKAY. It’s a mind experiment — meant to clarify a way of thinking.
Lack of insight
Since many people think others are not OKAY – and vice versa – something must explain this in case all people are OKAY after all.
May an essential lack of insight into the human psyche lie at the cause of this? Might this be a humanistic responsibility?
Not naively
People can be damaged, morally injured or otherwise. Being OKAY doesn’t mean all can be trusted unconditionally. It just means they are OKAY in principle. They are coachable.
They have ‘the good’ inside. One can remain optimistic about each person — even with much realism for one’s own sake.
People generally need to be treated with optimism.
Therefore, it is most efficient to keep doing so even or especially if it takes effort. Of course, the optimism should be genuine, not fake. It’s a daily exercise.
Being OKAY is the base upon which to build. It is not necessarily the building itself. Even with a good base, the building still needs to be built. A mistake in this regard can be costly.
Searching for OKAYness
Not believing in basic human OKAYness makes one stop the search. Of course, this is self-fulfilling. Non-believers are correct — as far as they are concerned. This way, they can even start believing in ‘human badness.’ That’s a pity for all.
On the other hand, believing in basic human OKAYness makes one keep searching for it, eventually finding it one way or another, at one level or another, leading to a profound sense of Compassion — no miracles.
What about oneself?
Believing in the OKAYness of oneself is a huge asset — giving much inner strength and thus being self-fulfilling in its own right.
It’s a shame that people aren’t induced more to do so. It makes many auto-deficient. I guess one crucial reason for this is a lack of leadership.
The YES! of Open Leadership is about making it happen in the short term.
No miracle cure — but almost.
“Your deep belief has made you see again.” [freely to Luke 18:42] To me, this alludes to the belief, not in any cure or concept or person, but in being OKAY and being found OKAY by – in this case – Jesus.
It makes one ‘see’ the goodness of all people.
Apart from religion, we also scientifically know that expectation is very powerful — frequently more potent than what ‘concretely‘ happens meanwhile.
Thus, it can and should be said that all people are finally OKAY.
No matter what.
Don’t we all need it very much?
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