071 | Transcending Up and to the Right

Transcend Human

Jul 19

Written By Daryl McMullen

July 19, 2021

Minute of Transparency: Building Blind

Today's Topic: Transcending Up and to the Right

In this episode:

The cultural direction
The economy of Heaven
The art of following

// 1. THE CULTURAL DIRECTION

Simply put - our cultural direction is: "Up and to the right."

According to the Silicon Valley Dictionary - Up and to the right can be defined as:

"An incredible growth curve in your business metrics. Also known as a Hockey Stick curve."

It's a graph with two axes:

On the X axis you have time
On the Y axis you have the growth or decline of whatever it is you're tracking

So when you talk about something being up and to the right you're simply explaining that the thing you are tracking is growing, or getting better as time goes on.

So you could say things like:

The sales of our widget are up and to the right this year
Or my career has been nothing but up and to the right
Or my portfolio has been trending up and to the right

You get it...

But this isn't some strange thing that only businessmen and business women use in relation to the sales of their products.

This is a cultural direction...

Whether we use those exact terms or not - we live in an up and to the right culture.

Everything has to be up and to the right or there is a problem.

Just look at your life - and the things you are working toward:

Your career - you want it to grow right?
Your salary - for sure!
The size and/or location of your home
The type of car you drive
The iPhone you have in your pocket
Exercising to get closer to your ideal weight
Working out to gain muscle mass
Eating better to reach your ultimate health goals
Going on the right vacations - seeing the cool things to see
Having an active Insta Story with polished videos and images of the good life
The success of your kids
The success of your portfolio
The success of your sports teams
The success of your country in the Olympics
And the list keeps going on and on...

We want everything in our lives to be up and to the right!

Now on the one hand this is a good thing - because up and to the right suggests growth. And growth is good - especially when you put in hard work to achieve something.

But on the other hand, up and to the right fits right into the cancel culture we live in these days. If you aren't getting more and more stuff, becoming more and more popular - you're out - you're cancelled.

Because our society - a democracy built on capitalism - loves success. It wants everything to be growing, succeeding, gaining value, gaining popularity, gaining status.

You can see it in the popular shows like The Voice, America's Got Talent, American Idol, etc.

Shows dedicated to finding the people who are moving in the right direction - then helping them fast track their lives up and to the right.

The lottery - what's that all about? Well, it's an easy button of sorts. With little to no work at all - other than purchasing the ticket - you can win big - and you're immediately catapulted up and to the right.

It's a system built on a foundation of money, possessions, popularity and status.

It IS our cultural direction...

// 2. THE ECONOMY OF HEAVEN

So the question I want to raise at this point is this: Is up and to the right the direction we should be heading?

As a Christian - what is my responsibility?

Am I supposed to focus on up and to the right like the culture I live in?
Am I supposed to focus on it - just at a slightly lower level?
Am I supposed to stay out of it all together?
Or am I supposed to move in a completely different direction?

Well - to me this isn't an easy yes or no answer. It's complex, and requires a couple conversations.

The first conversation I'd like to have is related to this verse in the Bible:

Actually - it's not a verse - it's a concept taken from multiple verses - but you'll recognize it:
"Be in the world but not of the world."
- Interesting right? So many questions come to mind
- What does that mean? How does it impact my life?
- What does this mean in relation to my career choices? My salary? The car I drive?
- Are those things part of being in the world? Or part of being of the world?
Like I said - difficult questions - with no black and white answers
We live in a world of gray - which is why our intentions are so much more important than our outward behavior and our visible, tangible selves
Let me explain this with an illustration:
- Two guys purchase the same vehicle
- Let's say it is a 2021 Lotus Evora GT
- $115,000 car
- Guy #1:
  - Is a millionaire philanthropist who is in Africa building schools for impoverished kids 11 months out of the year
  - He has so much money he doesn't know what to do with it
  - On the weekends he often races cars as a hobby
  - So the Lotus is a new vehicle he hopes to race and enjoy
  - At one race he hears about a guy who has been racing his whole life - building his car by sweat and tears with the little money he can make on the side
  - The millionaire gifts the car to the guy because he is so impressed with his work ethic and dedication to racing
- Guy #2:
  - Works an average 9-5 job
  - Is very self conscious - and never feels like he has enough
  - Is jealous of people who have more
  - Works night and day, lives in a cheap apartment, and puts all his money aside so he can purchase the Lotus
  - He finally gets it and it is his life
  - All his money goes to keep it running, to keep it from getting scratched, and to keep it out of the elements
  - He takes it out every now and then - driving through areas of the city where he will be seen
  - He wears his one expensive suit when he drives it so he looks the part
  - And when he meets people he has to lie about what he does in order to keep up the impression he wants them to have
No I know - a little too perfect - very stereotypical
But that's what I was going for - because I wanted you to see the stark contrast between the intentions of the two characters in the story. Why they did the things they did - and how their hearts played into the story. Because ultimately - you need to get your heart right...
So which of the two guys had the right intentions?
Which had a heart that was in the right place?
Which guy would you rather spend time with?
If both of these guys called themselves Christians - which one would you say is actually living out their faith?
Which is living in the world? And which is living of the world?

Which brings up my second conversation - so let's talk about Economy of God, or the Economy of Heaven:

In section one - we talked at length about the cultural direction we live with - up and to the right - which on some level we could refer to as the Economy of Man, or the Economy of this World
So if we have two economies - how do they work?
Are they similar? Are they different?
Is the Economy of Heaven the same as the Economy of this World - just a little better?

I would suggest no...In fact, I would suggest that choosing to be part of the Economy of Heaven is choosing NOT to get caught up in the Economy of this World - which is all about up and to the right.

Guy #1 seemed to be focused on the Economy of Heaven
Guy #2 seemed to be focused on the Economy of this World

So let's define this whole Economy of Heaven concept. And the best way to do this is to make a list of what is most important in each:

So the Economy of this World looks a lot like this:

Me:
- What I can get out of the world
- Career, salary, possessions
- Entertainment, fun, comfort, adventure
- Always moving up and to the right
Family: Sometimes involved in the above pursuits - but not always - because living for me is more important
Friends, Co-workers & Acquaintances
Spirituality, God
Helping others, giving back, etc.

The Economy of Heaven looks like this:

God: Having a relationship with our Creator
Others: Putting other people before us
- Now this can start with your closest relationships: Spouse, family, extended family
- But it includes everyone
- Being willing to help another person above your own pursuits and desires
Me: Still finding time to enjoy life, have fun and be adventurous

// 3. THE ART OF FOLLOWING

This last section won't be a new concept - simply me trying to flesh out this whole concept of the Economy of Heaven - and what it looks like to live in that economy.

Let's start with Seth Godin...

https://seths.blog/2019/10/up-and-to-the-right/

I'm just gong to read the bulk of a blog post he wrote because I think it fits well with where we're headed:

Up and to the right

The typical performance chart has two axes. And one is time. We can’t do anything at all about time, so there’s really one axis.

How fast did your profits grow?

How many followers did you add to your account?

How much muscle did you add to your calves?

The problem with a graph that only has one axis is that it’s dumb. No room for nuance. It’s a blunt instrument, easy to game.

If you want your profits to go up faster, simply cut corners. If you want more followers, buy them, or lower your standards, or pick a fight. And if you want to add muscle faster, sacrifice your health…

Adults are better off realizing that we have the patience and intelligence to measure our lives on two or more axes. Which means that instead of just one quadrant, there are four. That maybe it makes sense to choose to pursue something longer term, more resilient, more important.

That maybe the metric that was chosen for everyone isn’t really the metric you care about it.

So good right?!

Especially this sentence: "...maybe the metric that was chosen for everyone isn’t really the metric you care about it."

Maybe up and to the right, maybe the Economy of this World isn't the economy we should care about.

Maybe there is something more important...

And let me suggest there is - the Economy of Heaven - and the Art of Following:

Following? Following what? Following who?

Well, as a Christian - this should be pretty obvious.

The Bible doesn't leave much to the imagination. Jesus spent 33 years on Earth, and one of His favorite things to do was meet new people and ask them: "Come, and follow Me."

But unfortunately - we don't all understand this to mean the same thing.

This is obvious based on the discrepancies we see in Christian people. It's why much of the world wants nothing to do with us - right? Because they look at us as hypocrites. People who say one thing but do something completely different. Preach love, but display hate. Preach unity, but yet we're divided into warring factions called denominations.

But what if we all understood "follow" to mean the same thing?

A recent podcast episode from Lifechurch.tv explained it well for me:

Title: Following Jesus in Today's World by Joakim Lundqvist
https://www.life.church/media/following-jesus-in-todays-world/following-jesus-in-todays-world/
In the message he brings up this routine Jesus had of calling people to follow Him
And he walks through what it really means to follow Him - Jesus - The Good Shepherd
He explained that there is only one place in the entire Bible where Jesus told 3 back to back parables - all to reiterate the same point
His suggestion is that this must be important
The 3 Parables:
- Lost Sheep
- Lost Coin
- Lost Son (Or what we call the Prodigal Son)
Joakim suggests that these 3 parables explain what it means to truly "follow" Jesus
That when He calls us to follow Him:
- It isn't to focus on ourselves - and what we can get out of the relationship. That's a very up and to the right way of thinking. That's the Economy of this World
- No! When we follow Him - we are called to a life of adventure - going with Him to find lost things - lost people. This is the Economy of Heaven - joining God in the search for others. Finding them, helping them and bringing them into the same journey

Let’s Land the Plane:

This concept is SO important. And one of the main reasons I wanted to talk about it this week is that I needed to hear it. I say it all the time - this podcast is as much me working through my crap as it is me sharing things for you the listener.

I can get caught up in the Economy of this World so easily. I'm drawn to up and to the right the way a moth is drawn to a flame.

I'm a deer in the headlights half the time.

So it's important for me to recenter every once in a while. To remember that the cultural direction is not the direction for me.

I get to choose which economy I live under. And I can learn the Art of Following my Creator to find lost things.

This week - ask yourself these questions:

Have you been living mainly for up and to the right?
- If so, are you tired of the rat race?
- Have you felt the lack of satisfaction that comes with always trying to achieve?
Is there a better way? Is the Economy of Heaven something you can get on board with?
- What would it look like to turn your economy on its head and try something new?
What does "following" mean to you?
- If you are a Christian - what would it look like to join Him in finding lost things?
- If you aren't a Christian - what, or who are you following?
  - If you choose to leave the up and to the right rat race - what does that mean for you? How will your life be different?

That's it for today. Thank you so much for being with us.

Have a great week everyone, start swimming against the cultural current, and as always keep Transcending Human!

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