As November arrives and our thoughts turn toward gratitude, I find myself reflecting...
...on a question people have asked me many times over the past 23 years: Why do you keep going?
It’s a fair question. More than half of Humanity’s Team is unpaid. That includes all 70 of our Country Coordinators, who give their time without even being reimbursed for expenses. It includes me. Years ago, I walked away from a successful career in Silicon Valley because I sensed there was something more important to give my life to. I’ve never regretted it.
So here is my honest answer.
Recently, I watched the film Project Hail Mary. In it, Earth’s survival comes down to one last-chance mission, launched because nothing else is left to try. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much it mirrors our own moment. We have the science, the technology, and the wealth to meet nearly every crisis before us. What we lack is the one thing underneath all of them: knowing that we belong to each other.
Albert Einstein called our sense of being separate an “optical delusion of consciousness,” and he said this delusion is “a kind of prison for us.” I see that prison everywhere. We treat the Earth as if it weren’t alive. We hold on tightly, as if there weren’t enough. We compete, as if one person’s gain must be another’s loss.
But separation was never the truth. It was the story we were taught. Physicists have found that particles once linked stay connected across any distance. Biologists see the same pattern at every scale: nothing living exists alone. And the great wisdom traditions told us this long before science caught up. We are connected to one another, to the Earth, and to something greater than ourselves.
I think of a lamp sitting dark on a table. Nothing is wrong with it. It simply isn’t plugged in. The moment it is, it does what it was made to do.
I’ve watched this happen in people’s lives, again and again. When someone truly feels their connection, they come alive. Ordinary days take on meaning. The quiet loneliness so many of us carry begins to give way to a belonging deeper than anything we’ve known. That is what keeps me going. Every time I see the light come on in someone, I’m reminded why this work matters.
Many traditions speak of a season when humanity would come into close relationship with one another, with the Earth, and with the greater life we belong to. I believe we are living in that season now. Our mission is to make conscious living prevalent worldwide by 2040, because when enough of us live from that connection, the world turns. We begin caring for the Earth and each other, for this generation and everyone to follow.
None of this has ever been done alone. This community has been carried by people who believed before there was much to see: early donors, friends, family, and everyone of you who has shown up, shared, and held this vision with us. I am deeply grateful.
We’re now entering a new stage, and I want to be open with you about it. Right now, generous donors have offered a $250,000 match, which means every gift is doubled until it’s met. If this work has touched your life, I’d be honored to have you join us as a 2040 partner. And if you know someone who senses the world needs a deeper shift- a philanthropist, a family foundation, a business leader- I hope you’ll share this with them.
Whatever you’re able to give, whether it’s a gift, your time, or simply your belief in what’s possible, thank you. You are part of why I keep going.
With love and gratitude,
Steve
