Today, Norway celebrates May 17.
Flags will wave.
Children will march through the streets.
Bands will play.
People will gather in celebration.
Even here in Torrevieja in Spain, hundreds of Norwegians will celebrate the signing of the Norwegian constitution at Eidsvoll in 1814.
And perhaps what Norwegians are really celebrating is not nationalism itself.
But liberation.
Relief.
Dignity.
Self-determination.
A people no longer being ruled from outside.
Norway spent centuries under Denmark and later in union with Sweden. Norway was the poorer and more rural country, with less nobility and weaker monarchies than its neighbors. The Norwegian spirit became tied to something different than imperial grandeur.
Freedom.
The right to decide for ourselves.
And perhaps that is why May 17 still explodes in celebration over 200 years later.
Because liberation matters deeply to human beings.
But Who Is Outside Humanity?
Yet this raises a fascinating question.
When a nation seeks independence, the oppressor is easy to identify.
Another king.
Another empire.
Another nation.
But who is outside humanity itself? If we should imagine a liberation of the whole of humanity?
Who is the oppressor of mankind as a whole?
That question changes everything.
Because humanity is already one interconnected species living together on one small planet.
There is no external empire ruling humanity. Except for one: Belief. If we realize all wars, strife and conflict stem from belief, the belief is our “external empire” holding us in bondage.
And yet humanity still lives in conflict.
Still divides itself.
Still competes endlessly.
Still wages wars over land, resources and power.
So perhaps the next liberation movement in human history will not be liberation from another people.
But liberation from a belief.
belief as The Invisible Oppressor
The current global system already rests upon a set of beliefs.
Beliefs such as:
- scarcity is unavoidable
- competition is natural
- ownership creates safety
- accumulation equals freedom
- nations must compete
- humans are fundamentally separate
These beliefs are so deeply embedded in modern civilization that most people no longer even notice them.
They simply appear to be reality itself.
And from inside the monetary system, they often seem perfectly rational.
Of course more money creates freedom.
Of course more land creates security.
Of course more resources create power.
But collectively, these beliefs generate endless friction.
Because if security comes from accumulation, then others automatically become potential threats.
If survival depends on ownership, then humanity is forced into permanent competition.
And if nations believe they must continuously secure more resources for themselves, conflict becomes inevitable.
Not because humanity is evil. But because the structure and belief itself rewards competition.
The system reinforces the belief.
And the belief reinforces the system.
A Civilization Built On Belief
People often dismiss belief as something abstract.
Something secondary.
But civilization itself is already built upon belief.
Money only works because we collectively believe in it.
Ownership only works because we collectively agree to it.
Borders only work because we imagine and enforce them.
The modern world is not simply physical reality.
It is also a gigantic shared story humanity continuously participates in.
And because this story has become normalized, its assumptions have become invisible.
We often call these assumptions “human nature.”
But perhaps much of what we call human nature is simply humans adapting to the incentive structures we ourselves created.
If civilization rewards accumulation, people accumulate.
If it rewards competition, people compete.
If it rewards domination, power concentrates.
And so humanity keeps trying to solve its conflicts externally.
New leaders.
New treaties.
New alliances.
New economic reforms.
While the underlying operating system remains largely unchanged.
The Next Liberation
What if humanity’s next great liberation movement is not political, but perceptual?
What if humanity begins realizing that the systems we experience as fixed realities are actually collective agreements?
And if collective belief helped create the current world, then awakened belief can help recreate it.
Not blind ideology. Not authoritarianism or collectivism. Not one world government.
But a deeper awareness that humanity itself has the power to consciously redesign the structures it lives within.
Perhaps the next step of civilization is neither empire nor fragmentation.
But conscious interdependence.
One humanity.
Many cultures.
Not forced sameness.
But cooperation.
Like instruments in an orchestra.
Different voices.
Shared harmony.
Toward a Constitution of Humanity
Perhaps one day humanity will create something resembling a true Constitution of Humanity.
Not a document imposed by rulers.
But a shared understanding emerging from human maturity itself.
Not based on domination.
But stewardship.
Not based on fear.
But intelligent cooperation and awakened belief.
Maybe one principle could simply be this:
Belief in Mankind as an entity of creation and an agent of its own destiny.
And perhaps another could be:
We vow we will not violently claim vast amounts of land and resources as private anymore.
Because humanity has finally learned something simple, but profound:
That endless possession does not create peace.
Sharing does.
That intelligent stewardship creates more security than endless competition ever could.
That the Earth was never truly divisible.
A Future Independence Day
The old independence days celebrated nations becoming free from kings and foreign powers.
Perhaps a future global independence day will celebrate something much greater.
The day humanity became free from the internal belief systems that forced it into endless conflict with itself.
Not the end of cultures.
Not the end of nations.
Not the end of local identity.
Norway would still be Norway. Spain would still be Spain. Human cultures would continue flourishing in all their diversity.
But perhaps humanity would finally stop organizing civilization around fear, scarcity and separation.
And perhaps that will become the next great awakening.
Not humanity defeating an outside enemy.
But humanity outgrowing the need to dominate itself.
And as Norwegians celebrate their independence day wherever thay are, all nations and cultures would celebrate the independence of humanity on our global independence day. A celebration of the liberation from limiting beliefs.
If these ideas resonate with you, there’s a novel that depicts what afuture can be like based on these ideas: Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity.
The story follows former billionaire Benjamin Michaels, who wakes up 100 years into the future to discover a world where humanity has transitioned into a new world based on an awakened belief described above.
If you want to experience this world, I invite you to dive into it here:
The only peaceful way humanity can move toward a better future is first by being able to imagine it, and that is why I wrote this novel and write this blog. Because the more people can imagine a better future for humanity, the greater chance we have of actually creating it.