#1 ·
We really need to sweep out the cobwebs in this "Spirituality" section. It’s left behind a certain mental stagnation and a lingering scent of "higher realms" rot. This comes after his prophetic "revelation" that more than half of humanity lacks spirituality—and subsequently, that their very worth is diminished. Once you go down that rabbit hole, one question becomes absolutely unavoidable:
just how much is a single human life actually worth??
If we look at it through a purely mathematical lens—which is what some experts in the field have concluded—a single human life is worth about twenty bucks. If you were to break the human body down into its constituent chemical elements and compounds, that's basically what you'd get if you sold the raw materials to a lab supply store.
If I could get twenty bucks for a life, then the Tutsi and the Hutu—two tribes locked in endless mutual hatred—would be among the wealthiest African Americans around! In those regions, someone else's life is worth less than a bullet (maybe a dollar).
I mean, honestly, because ammunition is so expensive, they just beat each other with machetes instead. It's much more cost-effective.
From an economic standpoint, a human life is worth less than factory equipment, less than market share, and certainly less than profit. That’s why the workday gets stretched to its absolute limit. You see it clearly with kids in Asia working fourteen-hour shifts, or those tiny hands weaving rugs. Since they are such easily replaceable commodities, their lives don't carry much weight. A couple of dollars might be earned by selling a child or a young woman into slavery for the sexual exploitation of wealthy tourists; the profit goes to the macro-level players, while the beatings, the humiliation, and the forced prostitution fall squarely on the "weaker" slaves crawling the streets of Manila and Bangkok at night. Their entire existence is worth nothing more than a single session with a psychopath.
Politically speaking, a life holds a lot of declarative value during an election cycle; you can squeeze a few extra votes out of it. Otherwise, it means nothing. Politics is essentially the right of the strong to manipulate the weak, provided there's a general consensus.
Looking through the lens of religious practice, a human life is precious; the day belongs to God, and as such, it must be cherished. That all sounds wonderful until a sliver of euphoric fanaticism takes hold of the flock, fueled by a widespread sense of being threatened by people of different faiths.
Suddenly, (other) human lives outside of our group have very little value.
Just like having a different skin color.
Or just like living a different lifestyle.
So, seriously, how much is a human life worth???
It isn't worth money, goods, or even expressed effort. Its value lies in the very concept of life itself and its origin. It matters because there is a plan for it, a fulfillment waiting to happen. It is unique, and therefore, it has no quantifiable price tag.
Because it exists above material value, IQ, gender, or capability.
We've been conditioned to believe that someone else's life is worth whatever value the ideologies we've adopted dictate. We follow these ideas blindly without ever questioning if they are actually correct.
That is the fatal influence of ideology, coupled with our own complicity in letting our consciences go numb.
Maybe we should start questioning the value of our own lives when we refuse to see any value in the lives of others??????😲
just how much is a single human life actually worth??
If we look at it through a purely mathematical lens—which is what some experts in the field have concluded—a single human life is worth about twenty bucks. If you were to break the human body down into its constituent chemical elements and compounds, that's basically what you'd get if you sold the raw materials to a lab supply store.
If I could get twenty bucks for a life, then the Tutsi and the Hutu—two tribes locked in endless mutual hatred—would be among the wealthiest African Americans around! In those regions, someone else's life is worth less than a bullet (maybe a dollar).
I mean, honestly, because ammunition is so expensive, they just beat each other with machetes instead. It's much more cost-effective.
From an economic standpoint, a human life is worth less than factory equipment, less than market share, and certainly less than profit. That’s why the workday gets stretched to its absolute limit. You see it clearly with kids in Asia working fourteen-hour shifts, or those tiny hands weaving rugs. Since they are such easily replaceable commodities, their lives don't carry much weight. A couple of dollars might be earned by selling a child or a young woman into slavery for the sexual exploitation of wealthy tourists; the profit goes to the macro-level players, while the beatings, the humiliation, and the forced prostitution fall squarely on the "weaker" slaves crawling the streets of Manila and Bangkok at night. Their entire existence is worth nothing more than a single session with a psychopath.
Politically speaking, a life holds a lot of declarative value during an election cycle; you can squeeze a few extra votes out of it. Otherwise, it means nothing. Politics is essentially the right of the strong to manipulate the weak, provided there's a general consensus.
Looking through the lens of religious practice, a human life is precious; the day belongs to God, and as such, it must be cherished. That all sounds wonderful until a sliver of euphoric fanaticism takes hold of the flock, fueled by a widespread sense of being threatened by people of different faiths.
Suddenly, (other) human lives outside of our group have very little value.
Just like having a different skin color.
Or just like living a different lifestyle.
So, seriously, how much is a human life worth???
It isn't worth money, goods, or even expressed effort. Its value lies in the very concept of life itself and its origin. It matters because there is a plan for it, a fulfillment waiting to happen. It is unique, and therefore, it has no quantifiable price tag.
Because it exists above material value, IQ, gender, or capability.
We've been conditioned to believe that someone else's life is worth whatever value the ideologies we've adopted dictate. We follow these ideas blindly without ever questioning if they are actually correct.
That is the fatal influence of ideology, coupled with our own complicity in letting our consciences go numb.
Maybe we should start questioning the value of our own lives when we refuse to see any value in the lives of others??????😲