Transcend Again!

Transactionalists are now in charge. They know the value of a dollar and the worth of very little else. Want to get their attention? Pay to play. Want their help? Lead with what’s in it for them. That’s all there is to it. Need more in life than the superficial exchange of currencies? Keep reading!

First off, don’t blame the one’s in power. It’s not just them. This has been coming for a long time. Little by little, the scope creep of self-over-society has been gaining momentum. It didn’t just happen. Look around you. We have people leaving the education profession in droves, and the ones staying are refusing to do so much as serve on a committee without compensation. Meanwhile, the Chief Transaction Officer is making his move to shut down the federal department of education to save a buck and cancel its oversight and enforcement. Hey, rolling back societal mores to last century comes at a cost!

All facetiousness aside, transactionalists can’t see beyond their immediate inclination to buy and sell. Remember the days when people would cite Emerson and Thoreau and we all nodded knowingly that there is something more to life than “greed is good” and “show me the money”? Yeah…that’s not where we are.

So how did we get here? Let’s look at some wince-worthy cultural mileposts:

1966: “You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.” -Elvis character in Paradise, Hawaiian Style

1977: "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal" -Richard Nixon, David Frost Interview

1986: “What have you done for me lately?” -Janet Jackson, top 5 Billboard single

1995: “Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie if you believe it.” -George Costanza, Seinfeld

2002: "Second place is really the first loser." -George Steinbrenner, Yankees owner

2012: "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." -Mitt Romney on CNN

2018: "I don't care about my legacy. I'll be dead." –Rudy Giuliani, New Yorker interview

2021: "Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Gimme a break." -Donald Trump to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperge

And these are just some of my lowlights. You may have your own memorable least-favorites to add?

The point is, we’ve gone along with the slow erosion of our better selves for quite some time, and now that shameless money-grubbing is the norm, what are we going to do about it? We can’t beat transactionalists at their own game. They’re ruthless…driven to win at any cost. They don’t know or care about the implications of their actions on the greater good. But you and I do. That’s why you’re still reading this.

So how do we overcome this cynical age of selfishness?

Transcend. In every age when the gravity of human circumstances hits critical mass, we transcend again. It’s not quick or clean or easy, and the costs far exceed anything we would bargain for, but when humanity hits that tipping point, everybody’s in for a penny, in for a pound. Facing existential consequences, the choice is no longer ours to make.

How do we carry on in an age of outrageously bad choices? We focus on what is truly important:

-      Life.

-      Relationships.

-      Children.

-      Legacy.

Transcendentalism over transactionalism.

Rediscover the great American transcendentalists:

Reread Walden; or, Life in the Woods.

Revisit Emerson’s Essays on Self-Reliance.

Indulge in "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman.

Lose yourself in The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson.

Immerse your mind in "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" by Margaret Fuller.

Be reminded of what it means to rise above our immediate exigent circumstances and aspire to return to our better selves. The time will come, and we want to be well-positioned to seize the moment.

Because the thing about transactionalism is it burns itself out. It only lasts as long as there’s more to consume. Like everything from raw natural resources to commercial land development, when the potential to make money runs out, the game’s over. We’ve risen above defining moments in history time and again, packaged as pro-this and anti-that, almost always shrouded in hate and fear. We will transcend again.

Honestly, if you’re satisfied taking potshots at transactionalists one meme at a time, you’re just as short-sighted as they are. Do what you want, but if you truly want change, rise above the petty politics. Transcend. See the bigger picture and invest your time and energy and happiness in those things that truly matter:

-      Life.

-      Relationships.

-      Children.

-      Legacy.

Transcendentalism over transactionalism.

A century from now, whatever this tired old world looks like, our progeny will not be talking about how they can better emulate the self-proclaimed greatest dealmaker of all time. This moment in time will be relegated to the dustbin of failed history. But they will be persisting in the questions we are asking ourselves:

How can we improve the quality of our existence?

How do we rise above tribalism and selfishness for the common good?

How can we leave things better than we found them?

And their options to respond will depend on how we answer now.

You have value. You have dignity. You have worth that no one can take away from you.

Don’t waste it.

Don’t put a price on it.

Don’t give it away.

Hold on to who you are and what you know to be important...and transcend.

Mind blown from the smallness on display? Weighed down by the brutal cynicism of the age? Tired and worn out by it all? It’s time to transcend again. No matter how exasperated you feel in the moment, you have the wherewithal to catch your breath and continue.

Rise above the petty, selfish shortsightedness consuming the world. It will pass, and the resilience of the human spirit will persist to greater, nobler things. That’s what transcendentalism is all about. That’s what we need to be all about, too.

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