010 | Transcend Human: Under the Hood

Today’s Topic: Transcend Human: Under the Hood

We now have supporting documents for Transcend Human! Now these are definitely works in progress, but you can’t wait until something is perfect in order to launch it. If you did, you’d never launch a thing…

And these are important elements! A visitor to the website should be able to read through these quickly and get a REALLY good idea what Transcend Human is all about.

In this episode:

1. Slap a “brand" on that thing! 

2. Stay on “mission"

3. Why “values” are valuable

4. You gotta “believe" in something...

// 1. SLAP A “BRAND" ON THAT THING

Here’s what I came up with: A logo that is made up of two parts:

• The “Hu”:

  • The “Hu” is nothing more than a shortened version of the word Human. However, it takes on an elemental feel - like elements from the Periodic Table. Things like Ca (Calcium), Fe (Iron), He (Helium) and Au (Gold). To me, using this “elemental” symbol for Human suggested the essence of what it means to be human and experience the human condition

• The "Chevrons":

  • A chevron suggests movement. In this case, each chevron is pointing up - suggesting movement upward. The combination of three chevrons suggests perpetual upward movement. Just as .333 represents the fact that the “3” will repeat indefinitely beyond the decimal point, so the three chevrons suggest an infinite number of steps upward.

  • Also, in the military, the chevron is an indicator of rank - used to show how far you’ve moved beyond your entry point into the service.

And finally, to wrap things up on the logo, there are a couple subliminal elements:

• The font: Specifically chosen because it looks distressed, rustic and worn. Similar to us when tossed around by the human condition  

• The colors: Colors that are reminiscent of the natural world - greens and browns. Nature is one of the most obvious signs that God is creative, and must love us very much to go to such lengths to design this world for us

// 2. STAY ON “MISSION"

Last week we talked about mission statements and how every good business, company and organization needs one.

When it comes to Transcend Human, the mission statement reads like this: “How you can rise above the human condition”

• Why “you” and not “we"?: Well, it just made more sense to me at the time. Sure “we” are all working together to Transcend Human. And it’s true, “The team outperforms the individual every time.” But at the end of the day - only “you” can make your decision in the controversy. Nobody else can make it for you. And after you make that decision, you’ll spend the rest of your life interacting with your conscience - to Transcend Human

• What’s the significance of “rising above”?: Long before the mission statement came together, I did research on words for the name of the organization. Words like “rise” “ascend” “excel” “exceed” etc. And in that research I wound up finding “transcend” - which obviously became part of the name Transcend Human

Now it’s important not to get caught up in the concept of rising above something - as we might start to think we are “higher” than someone else…

“And this is NOT the case. Let me make that very clear… We are NOT rising above other humans, we ARE rising above the human condition. ”

— Transcend Human

And what exactly is the human condition? Well, there’s an episode for that… You can learn all about it in Episode 003.

But to summarize: The Human Condition is the totality of the human experience. Our life experiences, our medical condition(s) and our state of mental health throughout our lifetimes.

// 3. WHY “VALUES" ARE VALUABLE

The word “value” means to have relative worth, merit, or importance.

So the “values” Transcend Human describes are just that - the things that are held up as worthwhile and of high importance.

They aren’t specific beliefs - we’ll get to those in a minute. Values are higher level “buckets of goodness" if you will. General principles to live by.

So here they are:

• TRUTH: 

• "A willingness to put in the effort to find essential truth"

  1. Absolute truth is important as it is the foundation upon which we can build our lives

  2. For TH these re some: the controversy, the sin virus, the human condition and freedom of choice in the controversy

• TRANSPARENCY:

• “A willingness to be honest with yourself and others"

  1. Getting to the place where we’re willing to be hones with ourselves and others

  2. Us: Self-awareness leads to growth

  3. Others: Honesty with others leads to forgiveness and community 

• GROWTH:

• “A willingness to step out of your comfort zone in order to learn and grow"

  1. Become a lifelong learner

  2. Move from consumer to contributor 

• LOVE:

• “A willingness to put the needs of others before your own and do good in the world"

  1. It’s a state of mind - it truly is

  2. Especially when you hear verses in the Bible like “God is love.” Not "God is loving" - though He is. But that God actually IS love - like it’s His DNA

  3. As we Transcend Human, we grow in our love for God, others and ourselves (only in a good way… accepting that we are created by God and that we have value because of that)

// 4. YOU GOTTA “BELIEVE" IN SOMETHING

Next up we have the 7 Tenets of Transcend Human - or the things that Transcend Human believes:

1. A Controversy Exists

   • God

   • Lucifer/Satan

   • War in Heaven

   • Battle on Earth

2. The Sin Virus

   • Human Disturbance

   • Earth Decompensation

3. The Human Condition is Controversy Related

   • The Human Condition

     1. Life Journey

     2. Medical Condition(s)

     3. State of Mental Health

4. To Be Human Is to Worship

   • We were created to worship God

   • God shaped hole that only He can fill

   • Apart from God we will try to fill the hole with something else. But it never quite works/satisfies 

5. Transcending Human

   • Two ways we can respond to the Human Condition:

     1. Earthly/Human View

     2. Transcendent View

   • Road to Transcendence:

     1. Self Awareness

     2. Develop a Plan

     3. Live It Out

     4. Pass It On/Pay It Forward

6. The Most Important Choice

   • Team Satan

   • Choosing NOT to Choose

   • Team God

7. The Controversy Will End

   • The Bible clearly wraps things up. It is the story that comes full circle - from Creation to Destruction to Re-creation

   • Two outcomes at the end of time:

     1. Heaven

     2. Hell

And that’s the long and short of it! 

Thank you so much for doing me - and letting me unpack all of these concepts in one episode. It was probably like drinking from a fire hose - but hopefully it was a good overview of Transcend Human and helped you see how all of the concepts we talk about on the show fit into the bigger picture.

I love that I get to do this and I love that you were here with me today. 

Next week we’re going to head a slightly different direction.

Instead of a standalone episode like we’ve been doing, we’re going to jump into a series of episodes based on Controversy Theory - which is a manuscript I wrote back in 2000-2001.

Starting next week, I’m going to introduce Controversy Theory - setting the stage for the rest of the episodes.

I hope you will join me as we dive into that. Until then, keep Transcending Human!