I learned recently that there is a name for a particular felt sense, or an experience of another person, that I find incredibly inspiring and magnetic. Perhaps this particular flavor of a felt sense is what I am seeing when I feel another who stands peacefully in their own skin. This experience, I recognized, is to experience their dignity¹ . I’d never thought of dignity before as a thing or a concept worth unpacking in detail. I guess maybe because to do so would require me to look at the uncomfortable contrast - to see the unseen - to acknowledge what many look away from. I wanted to know: What is dignity and how does it relate to equity or an equitable exchange of human energy?

Through this contemplation I asked myself: Can we know before it’s too late when our hope is being preyed upon? What happens when we navigate through our life to where the only thing we see in front of us requires our hope and a leap of faith? Through my own rhetoric, it occurred to me that to prey upon the hope of another is to harvest them in that moment of trust building when the ball isn’t in their court but it is never thrown back. It’s time to deliver yet that “return” never comes.

To know in advance that you will withhold the return once the other has given their time efforts and ideas, is to disconnect in the moment when another human body has bore the fruit at a cost, and with hope. To withhold your part in the play may cost them greatly, in deep emotional ways - it may cost them their dignity. This is to prey upon their hope. Those who prey upon the hope of others may not recognize that they extract and feed from the fruits of other bodies - without consent. When we see our lives as paths or threads we can recognize that our bodies “keep the score”. How do we protect and express ourselves when being creative with other people requires mutual connection like what’s required during a game of ball or a song of jazz?

On the contrary, and in the process of getting to know someone, perhaps we part ways amicably and no harm is done to either party. Maybe this is the moment in the creative process where hope did not fruit, so we graciously and with emotional maturity feel disappointed and wish each other well. Or perhaps we bask in the rewards of our new creations! In both these situations we are parting ways with dignity² . Scholars like Michael Rosen³ and Martha Nussbaum⁴ have developed theories about the importance of dignity in moral and political philosophy, often connecting it with notions of respect, autonomy, and equality.  On the same note, what happens in the creative process when things go right? What is it like to birth something new into the world? What is it like to create something emotionally rewarding? Do all people know the answers to these questions universally?

Standing in dignity is resiliency

Social interactions that are governed by neurological masks made up of generational cultural conditioning necessitate that those of us lower in the chain of command within hierarchical decision making structures, or hierarchical organizational psychological structures, stand with dignity. Within hierarchical organizational psychological systems there are opportunities for immature players in the system to extract. Interactions that are calculated can happen whether immature people are unconscious or conscious of the subtle realm. What I mean by subtle realm is the realm of emotional intelligence as a communication and emotional maturity as an ability.

Interactions where there is an incoherence around how people feel and act (our felt sense of their nervous system and their actions that are juxtaposed against the meaning of the language or words they are saying) are allistic in nature - normative. Through 10,000 years post agricultural revolution, 2,000 years after christ, and so on, post organizational psychological systems of control mask 3.5 million years of human evolution. It is a hard fact that most of human evolution has occurred before the dawn of civilization. We can thank these relatively recent organizational psychological systems for changing some of our behaviors in ways that are progressive. But then it becomes time to continue onward to sculpt our nervous systems into further advancement that goes beyond perhaps simply the elimination of physical violence as one such byproduct.

Bodies with extreme psychological strength are the souls who choose to walk their body to the edge and push outwards at the confines of our nervous systems - sculpting our bodies to hold tension and space. Our ancestors who live dormant within ourselves thank us when they are seen and can breathe. Those who push at this edge are the people who walk the heroes journey - perhaps more than once, over and over. Perhaps we all are walking our own hero’s journey as we make what’s possible to experience within human civilization greater - we expand the Universe.

Each encounter where our hope is preyed upon, our dignity violated, where we go unseen - we learn to stay expanded and to see. We are seeing with our bodies - not just our eyes. Perhaps we watch ourselves and feel ourselves in our own slaughtering, or simply in our own harvesting. And perhaps we watch ourselves in our magnificence - pushing the limits of what’s possible in humanity, quietly, perhaps in some circumstance with no audience but ourselves. We walk in the world with a confidence that cannot be faked. We walk in the world with an undeniable confidence as we do the things that we admire most - and we survive the repercussions. The more we see the more we become a surgeons scalpel, forged in the fire of one insurmountable hurdle after the next.

Walking with a confidence that cannot be faked

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear from successful business people about how to walk the journey of a founder in Silicon Valley. One person mentioned that women founders struggle with confidence. That women need to ignore the law. They proceeded to explain that every big idea and big company that succeeded in changing the world had ignored the law. I thought to myself about Elizebeth Holmes and Theranos. She was so young when she started her company like many men who came before her.

A bet was made on her science innovation - an innovation that had not yet broken through - like for many men before her and many men today. All these people faking it until they make it - defrauding investors is the name of the game in Silicon Valley. Yet her new born and child were taken away and she was imprisoned for her unethical behaviors. Whether or not she survives these repercussions, she knows something with her body that cannot be faked. Will there be people on her path who will be able to help her and who will be able to help her children?

I then flashed back to another moment recently where I was attending an investor- founder themed conference. A young founder perhaps 10+ years my junior shared with me that they had received 500k of VC money to start a business and that they had not been able to raise the next money needed to continue forwards. They said they wanted to kill themself. Perhaps they didn’t really want to kill themself, I don’t know, but it was for certain that they felt hopeless. Was their hope preyed upon? I don’t know. It makes me wonder: do we prey upon our own hope? Or is it that we dare to transgress the stories we have about ourselves and each other - about what might be possible? Where do we turn if we cannot birth our creations, if we cannot make it out of the tunnel of emotions that we have already entered into? We cannot turn back. What do we do next to make it through? What can we do to say yes to life with dignity?

When our hope is preyed upon we have already started to crawl through the tunnel of emotion. When we cannot birth into the world what has already entered into the canal, we get stuck. What if our lives are like threads of lived experiences with tunnels we enter into? When we weave together our lived experiences with each other’s, we create a song where something new can come into form. If we cannot move forward in our lives, we cannot create from the thread we’ve already lived - we cannot make it out the other side of the tunnel. Our social emotions cannot complete their cycles. We must find ways where we can express who we are, what we’ve done, what we know, and contribute our unique fruits to the harvest on behalf of the Earth we live as a part of.

This necessitates space to play with each other. With this in mind, I don’t believe that fear-based hierarchical psychological organizational structures of human capital can be taken down over night. These structures live within our psyches and in our bodies. But perhaps we can create a scaffolding where people can complete the journeys of the hopes that are alive inside them - waiting to emerge. Perhaps they, and we, can experience the rewards right now.

The Research

Research has shown that violations of personal dignity, such as humiliation, degradation, or injustice, can have long-term psychological effects, including depression, anxiety, and a loss of self-worth. Studies have examined how dignity relates to social identity, particularly in marginalized groups. Researchers have explored how dignity violations affect group cohesion, solidarity, and the ability to advocate for social change. Some studies suggest that dignity is a key motivator in human behavior, influencing individuals’ willingness to engage in prosocial actions or their tendency to stand up against perceived wrongdoings.⁵

In the medical field, preserving patient dignity is a critical aspect of ethical medical practice. Research has focused on how healthcare providers can ensure respect for dignity, especially in palliative care, elder care, and during end-of-life decisions. Therapeutic approaches that help patients facing terminal illness to reflect on their lives in a way that restores dignity, helps them find meaning in their final days.⁶

Many legal systems, including constitutional law, incorporate dignity as a fundamental principle. The German constitution (Basic Law) explicitly mentions human dignity⁷ , and the U.S. has interpreted dignity in relation to due process rights and equality under the law. Research has explored how dignity is protected through anti-discrimination laws, labor rights, and civil rights. A key issue is how legal definitions of dignity influence judicial outcomes, particularly in cases involving civil liberties such as Rochin v. California.⁸

The concept of dignity in the workplace refers to the right of employees to be treated with respect, free from harassment, and to have their personal autonomy respected. Studies have shown that work environments that preserve dignity tend to have higher employee satisfaction, better mental health outcomes, and lower turnover. Research has found that leaders who promote dignity and respect within organizations foster better team morale and are more likely to inspire trust and commitment.⁹

Different cultures have varying interpretations of dignity. For instance, collectivist cultures might view dignity as interconnected with the family or community, whereas individualist cultures may focus on personal autonomy and individual rights. Researchers have also studied how dignity is conceptualized and violated across different global contexts, such as post-colonial societies, where dignity is tied to the restoration of national or cultural pride.¹⁰

Economic research has explored how poverty and economic inequality impact an individual’s sense of dignity. Scholars have linked the violation of dignity to systemic economic structures that limit access to basic resources like education, healthcare, and housing. Dignity is increasingly being integrated into international development studies, where it is used as a measure of human development and quality of life, alongside traditional metrics like income or health outcomes.¹¹

The research on dignity is vast and interdisciplinary, with each field bringing unique insights into how dignity is defined, violated, and upheld in various aspects of human life.

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1  Immanuel Kant's philosophy posits that dignity is inherent in all human beings and is grounded in their capacity for rational agency. He argued that humans should never be treated as mere means to an end but always as ends in themselves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant

2  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) emphasizes the inherent dignity and equal rights of all people. Much research has explored how dignity is foundational to human rights discourse and how violations of dignity (such as discrimination or inequality) lead to social harm. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

3  https://www.amazon.com/Dignity-History-Meaning-Michael-Rosen/dp/0674064437

4  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Nussbaum

5  Prevalence of experiencing public humiliation and its effects on victims’ mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis

6  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7958189/

7  https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/

8  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochin_v._California

9  https://hbr.org/1996/09/making-differences-matter-a-new-paradigm-for-managing-diversity

10  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1197754

11  https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22