The story behind mOre

As humans, most of us need something to believe in, something to achieve and give meaning to life. Without purpose we can feel trapped in the finite world we are born into, and a sense of “there must be mOre” pervades. Unfortunately throughout history, the traditional way to fulfill that primal urge, either as an individual or collectively as a culture, has been to obtain mOre at the expense of another. Conquering others has become a proven route to finding inspiration and purpose in life for people and cultures looking for mOre.

However, if we take notice of history, we will see that expanding our world in this way, by taking from another by force is not a sustainable answer. It simply stimulates the incubation of animosity and hate that eventually bloom into further wars for mOre. Fulfillment achieved in this way becomes even more suspect, if we acknowledge that our neighbors are often just slight variations of us, brothers and sisters from the same tribe, different only in our interpretations of a related ideology. Furthermore, neighbors can be thought of as just slightly different points along the “wave of possibility” local to the territory they share, and their different points of view around a shared ideology can not only be areason for war between them, but a source of illumination to both.

Nonetheless, aggression as the De facto route to mOre is ingrained, and we, as a species, may have to be awakened by a shock before we are able to change this. Maybe such a shock could happen upon seeing, “really seeing”, your neighbor stripped of his/her home, possessions, way of life, with nothing left but his/her soul crouching in the ashes and rubble of the destruction you have caused as you plant your flag on his/her land. Yes, seeing a soul has to be a shock, at least the first time. And maybe, if you take the time to notice, your soul may recognize a brother or sister soul, taking shelter as a refugee, in the desert beyond the territory you both shared. And, maybe those two souls will connect, and through that recognition embrace one another, and lead you both to a mOre beautiful mOre in a bigger picture you can build together.

In this game you play two tribes born of siblings of an earlier tribe. Although you have remained neighbors sharing a territory over the centuries, your ideologies have become separated by different interpretations of a symbolic meaning to life, that you both express as a Square: one of you sees it simply as Square, and the other sees it balanced on a corner as a Diamond. Over time, this difference caused you to dehumanize each other, and validated continual war between you. Can you stop that cycle?