There is a big lie going around. It goes like this:
“It is possible for a person to be a natural-born inferior.”
This lie is evil, behemoth, and ancient. It has stained our history with discrimination, subjugation, and enslavement. It has built the foundation of every dictatorship, monarchy, and fascist system–from households to nations. This lie divides us. It isolates us and makes us strangers. It is the wagging tongue of irrational fear and hatred. And it is rising in our land.
We see it in the wanton disregard for women’s sacred bodily autonomy, the degradation of the LGBTQ+ community, the racism paraded in our streets, the cruel and haughty abuse of immigrants and willful traumatization of their children and families, and so much more.
For eyes that see it, there can be no greater nor more urgent task than to slay this lie; uproot it, tear down its structure, and lay a new foundation.
What we must do is plain: we must fight. We must wield the single weapon that kills all lies.
We must speak truth. And we must speak it publicly.
It goes like this:
You are my equal. And I am yours.
These words can change the world. So, let’s speak them!
Let us speak this magnificent truth to each other like a blood oath. Let it be our first marriage vow. Let us speak it to newborns, our partners, our neighbors, and all who ask for aid. Let it be the bedrock upon which we build our families, communities, and nations that will then simply live the truth that all people are created equal.
How beautiful equality is, and how beautiful we are in its pursuit.
It is time for action. And we have a plan!
A group of fellow artists, writers, science buffs, and philosophers from Groovy Eye Art Studio have created this new Philosophical Union: Temple of the Groovy Eye (TOGE); a grass roots community where people can take action to make real and immediate change. TOGE is registered as a non-profit religious institution; but this is not your grandfather’s religion. We have minimal hierarchy, we make no mention of any god, nor do we concern ourselves with any afterlife. Our eyes are focused on the sacredness of the present moment and our present actions. We believe that here is a holy place to be. This is where we do the beautiful work of defending the natural, inalienable, sacred rights each one of us was born with.
Equality is our mission. And it can be yours as well. Here’s how:
First: Join our community and be counted (it’s free!). We offer a welcoming virtual space to connect; learn; and share thoughts, art, and writing. We are not exclusionary; keep your faith and join us too. Equality is for everybody.
Second: Get ordained and take direct action. As a religious institution, we have the unique ability to legally ordain you (that’s free too!)
Ordained members are clergy in the eyes of the state with the authority to officiate marriages everywhere in the USA and in every country that allows American officiants.
All we require of our clergy is that in every marriage you officiate, the TOGE "Declaration of Truth" be spoken publicly and before all other vows:
“You are my equal. And I am yours.”
This is how we do it. It begins with our spoken words; our collective will made manifest and powerful, one relationship at a time. We ourselves, the honorable truth-tellers, must be the building blocks of the new foundation, built for strength and permanence, and for the first time from the ground up. Upon such a bedrock the Big Lie of natural-born inferiority will find no foothold - ever again.
Groovy Eyes are powerful things. They see that equality is not sameness. They see that the diversity inherent in our species is an evolutionary achievement – a glorious crown. Groovy Eyes reject the fiction that some people are the natural-born superiors of others.
We embrace our role in elevating all of humanity to its firm and rightful place atop a foundation of equality, from which beauty and justice magnificent will spring unstoppable, and deliver with all due urgency the dream of equality.
There is power in a union.
It is clear that those in power will never enshrine our equality. We must claim this stolen birthright for ourselves and our posterity by redefining what is holy. We must redirect our minds, in a true religious sense, to the natural, present world and the sacred task of using our collective power in it for good. We begin with language, ever the clothing of ideas.
These honorable words and actions are corageous, and they will work! Because honor is an attractive force.
Therefore, to you, dear reader, I declare:
“You are my equal. And I am yours.”