Why does that even need to be said? You would have thought it was obvious. Unfortunately not. The core wound of our civilization is dehumanisation due to materialism. Science and capitalism have excelled where things are measured with a numerical or financial value. We have neglected and undervalued those things we can’t measure, which unfortunately includes all the most important things: love, care, security, peace, kindness, trust, wisdom, intuition, community and so on.

Many of our organisations treat human beings as if they were objects, numbers or cogs in a machine. I first became aware of it in the health service, when I realised how terribly the staff are treated by the bureaucratic system. Medicine itself excels in technical areas but forgets the basics: care, sleep, diet, rest, healing and the magic of the placebo. This dehumanisation pervades all aspects of life. For example, welfare treats people as objects rather than as individuals. A fair system treats people as human beings, arriving at wise judgements rather than reducing everything to soulless processes, forms and computers. We try to manage risk with complex processes, paperwork, audit trails and policies but we fail to use our most powerful tool in managing risk – the wisdom, intuition and judgement of an intelligent, well-trained, well-led, accountable human being.

It is time to bring our civilization back to life by placing humanity, love, life, joy, fun, care, instinct, wisdom, intuition, relationships and human value at the centre of everything we do. If you want to get the best out of someone, treat them like a human being. If you want a child to grow to their full potential, see him or her and love them like a plant bathed in sunlight. If you want to cure a patient then heal them with the magic of the bedside manner, the healing touch and the power of belief. If you want to manage risks, you need to trust a human being to use their judgement. If you want creativity and productivity, you need thriving human beings, not slaves whipped with spreadsheets, protocols and fear.

I once sat down at Christmas time in a very busy room full of relatives. My niece, whom I call Mobu, was two years old. She was sitting on her own on the floor, minding her own business, just sitting, being and watching. No one else was aware of her. They were busy chatting. Amidst the hubbub, Mobu sat there as a tiny child but I could feel her huge presence fill the room, like a giant glowing bubble of inner light shining out well beyond her body. We all have an inner shining light, a being, soul, spirit or consciousness. It is usually hidden under a personality, behaviour, uniform, name, situation and lots of activity. We should love one another and see the being in one another and act accordingly. It doesn’t mean being ‘nice’ or naive. It doesn’t mean pretending that everyone is lovely. We are complex characters with personalities, egos, wounds, sometimes aggression, hatred and fear in our hearts, but we are also, underneath all that, beings. The more we can connect with that through presence, awareness, connection and love, the better we behave.

What if you are not aware of your inner being? Take a moment to relax, sit still and bring your awareness to your spirit, soul, being, energy, presence, whatever it is that is alive in you now. Be aware of the being inside all the people you meet. Look into their eyes and be aware of your presence, and their presence and the connection between you, which is deeper than your superficial characteristics. If you still don’t get it, spend time with a cat, a dog or another animal and experience your being interacting with theirs. The human being, your being, my being and everyone else’s being, is sacred. Act like a human being and treat others like human beings too.