Saving the World

January 1, 2050

Where did you come from, swamp flower? Why were your seeds everywhere? How did you sprout so swiftly? I cannot pinpoint your origin, I only know it feels like a thousand lifetimes since I recognized you twenty-five years ago. Because of your existence, I and others broke through the frozen peatlands of our mummified thoughts and got to work aligning our actions with our ideals. However, if there was an origin, it certainly was not in any specific region or peoples. Not even the poets, priests, and the psychonauts could claim you. You were universal, thriving in the cracks of shattered hearts and wills across the Earth’s surface. I stopped “teaching” history years ago ever since the arrival of participatory curriculum. My students now freely reconstruct history from the library themselves, driven by their own interests; I only guide their work, learning alongside them. To help preserve the memory of what happened, I will attempt to write a brief history of the events as best I can remember in the style of my students: reverse order and process-oriented, discerning cause and effect. Like a seed containing the whole, so too will this history strive to contain the whole, however incomplete. I hope this story can be of service to others. More voices will need to contribute their perspective to form a complete picture of what happened.

The Phenomenology of The Flowering

The Blossoming (2040-2050): Ecological health was restored and plant and animal kingdoms sprung back to life with a vigor unexpected by scientists. So many of us, from every background, tradition, and perspective, felt united by mutual respect, acknowledgement, and shared sense of inspiration in thought and deed. While challenges remain, we are more prepared to understand and engage evil than we were twenty years ago (we catch it in ourselves before it spreads). Even after the global genocides, whose victims are forever remembered in our hearts, we continued to develop heightened capacities for discernment, love, and resolve. A chief example of this is humanity’s new approach to global governance. Today, every jurisdiction works to serve every jurisdiction, dedicating what they produce to others (whether it be rights, resources, or culture); cities, regional hubs, states and countries (those that remain), and planetary institutions, all find their needs met by the acts of others. The thought “my work, my resources” gave way to “my work, your resources.” We learned to “act first” and permeate our proximate surroundings with the good we want to see in the world, rather than reacting first and waiting for institutions to respond. The United Nations and other nation state-directed bodies gave way to new, ever-evolving forms of multi-level planetary cooperation, which were deeply democratic, inclusive, responsive, and interested in the whole. Top-down administrative governance slowly phased out after the Second Global Pandemic. A “planetary rhizome”-like structure of collaborative, living institutions emerged, where every node contributed something of value, with no actor greater or higher than another. We can credit the Chula Vista-Tijuana Assembly of Free Peoples (Encuentro de Pueblos Libres del Norte y del Sur) for prefiguring the first transborder social assembly, generating a hub of regional economic activity dedicated to the health of its members and those just beyond its jurisdiction. A key component of this project’s success was that local and regional business leaders saw their corporations as ecological- and community-enriching entities, capable of both care and empowerment, and not as profit-maximizing engines of extraction. Producers, traders, and consumers from all industries got together to choose which products they needed and co-determined their production practices (most used 100% regenerative materials and manufacturing processes) and prices (pricing throughout the supply chain now reflected “true prices” or “the costs of living and dreams” between the time a producer produces a single product and next). Funds were set aside annually for those without the income to purchase goods from the collective at their true price until their own workplace integrated into the ecosystem. These business entities became known as “Care Corps,” supplanting the traditional C Corporation, and inspired social entrepreneurs around the world to experiment with similar practices. Voluntary contributions to Collective Coffers (regenerative, community-led finance institutions) quickly surpassed resources raised by taxes and put resources to immediate use, more inclusively, in more ways. Producers within the regions once governed by the national governments of Brazil, Russia, India, Nigeria, and China became famous for the natural beauty of their products and production processes—seamlessly integrating nature and human activity into an elevated form of economic activity, akin to artisanal production organisms. Profits everywhere were largely redirected back into communities, rather than accumulated by owners, to further develop the capacities of its members. The last remnants of racism, sexism, and ignorance of all kinds succumbed to the immense power of persistent interest in serving the needs of others regardless of background or belief. With humanity’s social and political systems, economic associations, and cultural institutions cooperating with greater degrees of harmony and autonomy, human beings became more equipped to weather flare ups from those who sought to dim the cooperative spirit. Above all, a new feeling of cosmic unity and purpose pervaded those involved in this work, thanks in large part to the deeds of the Three Wilderness generations (1940-1960; 1960-1980; and 1980-2020), who dedicated their lives to preparing the soil for future generations. With the stars speaking once again, we turn our attention to the swamp flower within humanity and continue to nourish it.

The Germinating (2033-2040): First, those closest to each individual were healed. All the inner work that was taken up during “The Trieste” began to slowly penetrate people’s immediate relationships. Family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers began to sense a different way of being in the world through interacting with those who had chosen to live differently. This “ethic of solidarity and non-coercion,” famously coined by philosopher Edgar Morin, bore immense fruit. Not everyone decided to move differently through the world, but enough did. My students say that the 2034 South America Citizens’ Assembly on Elder Care and the 2035 Asia Peoples’ Assembly on Reforestation signaled a global shift in attitudes around planetary cooperation and service, resulting in the Great Integration Movement that proliferated various inner development and institutional reform practices aimed at co-living. As a result, the collective thought form “I won’t act because I am not benefited” gave way to “I act so that I may benefit others.” These inner developments would bear institutional fruit in the next era. Another significant development was the popularization of the concepts of karma and reincarnation among the West as more and more scientific studies demonstrated its existence. The effect was particularly potent in the American South, where a combination of Calvinist ideas and karmic thought unleashed a new impulse for heart-led action. One consequence of this development was that new multiracial, transideological coalitions began to emerge and pass laws that restricted money from corrupting elections. Electoral politics and representative forms of government gave way to more and more experiments in deliberative democracy, where people from all backgrounds participated in decision-making. A whiff of an agenda or partisan ideology on the campaign trail began to trigger an allergic reaction within voters, many of whom point to the catastrophes of the 2020s as evidence of the failed project of governance by faction. The campaign slogan of Texas-born 1936 Presidential Candidate Senator Joseph S. Pack, “I ain’t governin’ unless we all governin’,” encouraged a new generation of people to make decisions together. A change also occurred within the mindset of people globally. After witnessing the horrors of political violence in the previous era, many people began practicing a more integrated political outlook, also known as the Many Ways of Seeing the World Movement (MWSW), pronounced “MuhSuh,” that sought to acknowledge the truths buried within all perspectives. Political scientists called this the “Polarized to Polarity” development, in which people became more capable of holding opposing tendencies within themselves, thus being able to cooperate more freely with others. This cooperative spirit would shape new ways of moving through the world in the subsequent era, but it was only made possible because people had recognized the swamp flower in the prior era.

The Sprouting (2025-2033): I will only refer to these years as “The Trieste,” the name of the deep-sea submersible that reached the deepest point in Earth’s seabed: the Mariana Trench. Highly technical forms of social and political violence whipped through societies during this period, dividing humanity and pitting communities against one another. These were years of mass confusion and delusion. Many consciously experienced humanity’s rock bottom, the seafloor, and once there could regain their orientation and begin the process of surfacing. This experience was akin to recognizing the swamp flower for the first time. Any activity that transcended dominant divisions of human activity and consciousness (e.g., race, class, nationality, political party, religion) bore the mark of this flower. The first step, for many, was idealizing their willpower to freely dedicate their actions to the ideals of another being, regardless of circumstances. In other words, to act like the swamp flower. This impulse originated in culture first, specifically on the streaming platforms. “Daydreamer” premiered in 2028, the first feature-length movie without significant sensory-suggestive elements, marking the ascendance of subject-participated media and the end of the CGI-era. These new filmmakers sought to respect the audience by withholding all the usual audio and visual techniques in order to give our imaginations room to exercise. As filmmaking began to support the free imaginations of people, other cultural disciplines followed. Science and education were reimagined. Minds were reborn. Most significantly, journalism began to evolve away from covering the news in a sensational, bulletin-like manner and towards painting a slow, holistic portrait of understanding, deeply researched portals of figures and events from different perspectives, reported simultaneously, that highlighted humanity’s full range of experience. The finest journalists were the most sensitive and worked almost exclusively in groups of people from different backgrounds; their work inspired many breakthrough developments in human activity, notably the first oil well voluntarily capped by energy executives. These developments offered fertile soil for the imagination to acknowledge paradoxes within themselves, a reality future generations would come to harness as the foundation for all cooperation. As the late co-leader María Francés shared at the first Global Convention on Cooperation, “We become lower case “d” democrats in life when we practice lower case “d” democratic thoughts.” This was the “psychic shot” heard around the world. Once humanity began recognizing that their thoughts shape reality, whole clubs and organizations began forming that worked to enhance one’s thinking to be more open, creative, compassionate, and courageous in the face of alarming division. A new flower sprouted in the swamp of humanity.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xw2uGpZ4oKmZgR1_lQBIE0JGfW1k9WF91yeSCdx6m-Q/edit?usp=sharing

My name is Stuart Johnstone, and I convinced hundred of millions of people to give their spare change to those in need.
This is how it happened… 

January 1st, 2050 

As I’ve grown older, January 1st has become increasingly less blurry. I’ve seen sixty-nine New Year’s Days, and I can remember about forty percent of them. Somewhere around the age of thirty-nine, I decided to stop drinking on New Years Eve. Call me crazy, but I wanted January 1st to be an opportunity for unhindered self-reflection. I wanted to be able to gaze back on the year before with blistering clarity, to really understand achievements and failures. As I aged, this ability to self-reflect became stronger and stronger. By January 1st, 2050, it was like my super-power. I was able to look back on 2049, and all the previous years, and see everything as if it was happening there and then. And, as it happens, 2049 was the best year of my life. It was the year I finally felt like somebody, the year I could finally say ‘my work is done’. 

The two events that shaped my 2049 happened because of something I started in 2024. More on that shortly. All you need to know right now is that, by 2049, I had helped to deliver over one trillion dollars to people in need all over the world. To honour this achievement, I was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive a knighthood from King William V. A few weeks after that, I was flown upper-class to Washington DC for a private celebration with President Ocasio-Cortez. Most of the time, when you meet great people, they will look straight through you. They might pretend to care, but most of them would rather be somewhere else. This King and President treated me like a long lost relative they’d waited their whole lives to meet. It was as if I was the superstar, and they were the little people basking in the moment of their lives. Who’d have thought it! These surreal and life-affirming experiences made me ask the question again: ‘How did I get here?’ 

Back in 2024, the world was a shit-show. At least, that’s how I saw it. In the UK, The Conservative Party was busy wrecking the country, adding insult to injury after leaving the EU eight years before. In the US, Donald Trump, a man who had effectively committed treason by inciting civil war, was about to become President for the second time. Wars were breaking out all over the world. The Israeli’s continued to ravage Palestine after the Hamas terror attacks the year before. Russia and Ukraine were still locked in conflict after two years. The US and the UK were bombing Houthi targets in Yemen following incursions into neutral shipping lanes. Even after the lessons of World War Two and numerous other conflicts in the twentieth century, it seemed like World War Three could break out at any time. While the masters of war executed their plans, individuals and communities weren’t faring much better. The rise of social media over the previous twenty years had created a generation of prima donna’s – people obsessed with themselves and motivated only by the number of likes their latest video was getting. Smartphones had become so ubiquitous, that they were like another body part, welded organically to the hand. Nobody looked up from these things, unwittingly substituting real life and real meaning for virtual nonsense. Communities were disintegrating all over the world. Money that had previously been available to fund local projects was disappearing fast, leaving families without help and kids to roam the streets. In my own neighbourhood, nobody spoke to each other, and I was convinced that if I’d been burning to death on the sidewalk, nobody would have stopped to help. Of course, some people had a different view of the world. But my view, perhaps influenced by my own idealistic mindset, was that it was a shit-show. 

The spark that changed my life came from a mundane piece of life admin. I decided to open an online bank account! I had resisted doing this for years because I was a finance traditionalist. I liked to keep my cash in a bank I could visit, where I could talk to real people and feel confident the place could not be compromised by hackers. I even kept some money under my bed! By 2024, my friends had convinced me to open a bank account via a smartphone app. The process turned out to be straightforward, risk-free, and the rewards far outweighed what I’d previously been used to. So, before too long, I was an online banking convert, taking advantage of every reputable app that came along. One of these online banks offered a product they called the Round-Up account. It gave the saver the option to round up purchases to the nearest dollar and save the balance in a separate account earning a high interest rate. It meant that if I spent $19.50, I’d save fifty-cents and earn eight-percent interest on it. Over time, this rounding up added up, and I was left with a small pile of savings from contributions I didn’t miss. After all, who misses spare change? At first, it seemed like a no-brainer. Then, after a while, I started to think about it more deeply. After six months of making contributions into my Round-Up account, I was left with only $150. This included all the interest that had been added to it. For a man earning a decent salary and with higher-than-average savings, this was money I didn’t need. Sure, it would help me buy a nice dinner or a few bottles of vintage wine, but it wouldn’t make any real difference to my life. That’s when I had a thought. THE thought. 

By a stroke of outrageous luck, the opportunity to voice this thought came around one month later. The company I worked for, a global advertising agency, hosted talks by interesting and important people in society. These people were invited in from the world of business, politics, media, technology – anybody who had something interesting to say or a unique view. The speaker in this session just happened to be the CEO of the online bank that offered the ‘Round-Up’ account. I know what you’re thinking. It sounds like he’s making it up! I assure 

you this happened exactly as I say. After he’d spoken for forty-five minutes or so, I put my hand up and took my chance. ‘I’ve used your Round-Up account for six-months’ I said ‘and I don’t really need the money. What if, instead of keeping the money you round up for yourself, you give it away to people in need?’. At first, the CEO looked bemused. In a world so focused on individual success, why would anybody want to be so altruistic? Had he not heard this idea before? Was it not obvious? It appeared not. After a long pause, he smiled and held the microphone up to his mouth. ‘You know’ he said ‘I’d like to say that we’d thought of that, but we haven’t. Nobody in the organisation, to my knowledge, has put this idea forward’. Then, he walked to the front of the stage and looked straight at me: ‘Let’s take this offline, and we’ll see what we can do’. 

A week or so later, I found myself sitting in the CEO’s office. I couldn’t believe it. He’d remembered our exchange at the agency and invited me in to discuss my suggestion. I expected him to give me thirty-minutes and send me away with a branded notebook. But this couldn’t have been further from the truth. Over the next few hours, we discussed the state of the world, corporate social responsibility, Donald Trump, The Super-Bowl, The Beatles, Martin Scorsese and, eventually, the Round-Up account. He asked me how I thought they could turn it into a tool for good. At this point, I realised I hadn’t really thought it through. ‘Well’, I said, ‘the first thing I’d like to say is that you have an opportunity to do something no other bank seems to be doing – an opportunity to change the world and lead other corporations to do the same’. I don’t know where this babble came from! ‘Mmmm’, he said, ‘Do you think people will actually go for it?’. I went on to explain my belief that people’s basic nature is good, and if asked in the right way, they would embrace the chance to be altruistic. ‘Spare change’ I said ‘means nothing to most people. Give them the option to give it away! If they don’t want to, they don’t have to’. I suggested that the bank should set up a fund, managed by a Foundation within the organisation, and invite applications from individuals and communities that needed money. ‘It’s an opportunity’, I said, ‘to bridge the gap that government can’t bridge, to remove the red tape, and to get money to people in need quickly and seamlessly’. The CEO stood up from his desk, walked across the room and shook my hand: ‘It’s a great idea. I’ll talk to my team’. 

A month or so went past, and I heard nothing. I accepted it had been an exotic little adventure that would come to nothing. Something to tell the Grandchildren about. I continued to gripe about the world and see the worst in everything. Then, out-of-the-blue, on a lazy Friday afternoon, I got a call from the CEO. ‘We’re doing it!’ he said, ‘It’s actually going to happen!’. It turns out the CEO had left our meeting and gone straight to his board, recommending that they offered a Round-Up Giveaway option ASAP, and setting the ball rolling on the infrastructure needed to manage and distribute funds. He told me he’d given his team a deadline to get the option live, and that there would be a global advertising campaign launching to support it. ‘And’ he said, ‘we want you to be in the TV ad’. 

By mid-2024, I’d gone from being a nobody to having my face beamed into living rooms across the world. I was told the TV ad for the Round-Up Giveaway account was seen by 1.5 billion households in 165 countries. The script had me discovering the Round-Up option, enjoying it for a while, then having the light-bulb realisation that I didn’t need the money. ‘This is your chance’ I say in the ad ‘to discover your true nature, to feel good at the end of the day, to make giving the new receiving – Round-Up and Giveaway Now!’ I press the ‘Round-Up Giveaway’ button on the app, and the script cuts to a young family, smiling in a park on a sunny day, with two kids playing on glimmering playground equipment. The TV ad was part of one of the biggest advertising campaigns in history. Media platforms – including the likes of Google and Meta – lined up to offer free advertising space. My face, along with the Round-Up Giveaway option, was splashed across TV’s, cinema screens, newspapers, magazines, social media, buses, trains, and stadiums globally. From that point forwards, I couldn’t look back, and nor did I want to. I embraced the role, praying to God that people would do as I predicted and ‘Round-Up and giveaway’. 

By now, you’ve probably guessed that it worked. In fact, it worked better than anybody could have imagined. The Round-Up Giveaway account, and the advertising campaign that supported it, created a wave of Altruism-mania that kept going and growing. Around twelve months after the launch, it was announced that it had generated over one billion dollars for those in need. It had changed the lives of more people in one year than government programs had in the last decade. Other online banks had followed suit in offering a version of the Round-Up Giveaway, and they had all been as successful in encouraging people to give away. The real explosion came in mid-2025, when the first high-street retailers decided to offer a version of the program at point-of-sale. They gave people the option of rounding up store purchases, however small, so even a kid buying a candy bar for 99 cents could choose to give away 1 cent. It was beautiful. Before too long, it was difficult to find any stores that weren’t offering the option to round up spare change and give it away. From Macey’s to Merv’s Vintage Sweets, they were all doing it, paying the proceeds into funds set up by online banks, who worked with a cross-section of experts to qualify applications. It spread like wildfire all over the world, and the flames turned out to be eternal. 

By the end of 2025, I had become one of the most famous people in the world. In January 2026, I won Time Magazine’s Person of the Year award. In 2027, I won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2029, I had my life dramatized in a movie that went onto win Oscars. Whilst I didn’t become rich, I enjoyed a level of adoration few could ever dream of experiencing. I was on cloud nine. 

Despite all this, nothing gave me more satisfaction than meeting the people whose lives were changed by the Round-Up Giveaway. I made a point of meeting as many beneficiaries as possible, and their stories kept me pushing to expand the program. 

In 2024, for the first time ever, corporations worked with individuals and communities without any ulterior motive, to help those most in need. As I had predicted when I first suggested the idea to the CEO, it brought out the best in people, and tapped into their innate desire to be altruistic. It thrust the idea of giving, alongside spending and saving, into the mainstream, and evolved into a true movement. In turn, it changed the lives of people all over the world in the best possible ways. I met individuals who were able to overcome serious personal challenges. I visited communities that achieved fundamental change and progression in years rather than decades. In some cases, Round Up Giveaway helped to improve the outlook for entire countries. How did this happen? It happened because the program replaced unfit solutions offered by government, getting rid of red tape and delivering help fast. The Round-Up Giveaway offered the fundamental change the world needed, a change that finally unleashed the unrealised dream of People Power. 

Now, in 2050, I can genuinely say we live in a society that is much less motivated by personal gain – so different from 2024. Things are bright, things are positive, and people work together. 

And I still give away my spare change every day… 

Looking back on what we did in 2024, it was certainly not in our plan nor was it an inevitability that our queer community activism would contribute so substantially to the transformation of our world. Obviously, however, the opening of our small LGBTQIA+ community center on the island of Key West, Florida served as a catalyst for enacting a new world view in the state of Florida, in the United States, and, ultimately, in the wider Earth community. With our byline “Love is love. Community is everything.,” Queer Keys managed to influence the hearts and minds of people in a way that cut across politics, environmentalism, economics, and difference.

My dear friend Janiece and I founded Queer Keys in 2021 to address a total lack of LGBTQIA+ programs and resources in our community, which happened to be a small island called Key West at the southernmost point of the contiguous United States. Key West was known as a haven for gay men and other members of the queer community since it emerged as a refuge for men living with AIDS in the 1980s. By the time Janiece and I moved to the island and met each other in 2019, however, the ethos of community that had permeated the island in the late 20th Century had started to lose ground to the profit-motive of commercialism and tourism. Big money was being spent to market the island as an LGBTQIA+ vacation destination and the drag queens still barked at the passersby every night, but the familial nature of queer community was dissolving as the need to cater to the ever-increasing number of tourists took over. When the almighty dollar became the main source of purpose on Duval Street, t-shirt shops hawking MAGAwear were juxtaposed against the rainbow crosswalks.

We started our LGBTQIA+ youth group in 2021 soon after we learned about a young queer high schooler who ended their life because of a lack of support and a hostile environment. From the seed of our first youth group with 3 attendees that met in a donated space at the local Methodist church, we grew our organization into a full-service LGBTQIA+ community center. We opened our doors to the public in an 800-square-foot retail space next door to the homeless youth drop-in center and across the street from the local strip club in May of 2024. Our center had a space for people to drop in and relax, an LGBTQIA+ library of books that were being banned by our state government, a local resource center to provide referrals for services, and a wellness center for counseling and STI-testing.

The wider context for the opening of our center was dark. Florida, under a far-right governor who had made an unsuccessful bid to run for President, was leading the charge in dehumanizing, scapegoating, and attacking LGBTQIA+ people, particularly transgender people. Laws were being passed that made it harder for trans people to access healthcare, for trans people to use public facilities and get accurate state-issued identification, for accurate gender and sexuality education to be taught in schools, for people to find justice for discrimination, and many other forms of state-sponsored violence against queer people. The state was making it harder for immigrants to access support, for black history to be taught, for poor folks to access food stamps, and for Key West to protect its natural environment from enormous cruise ships. All-in-all, Florida was a state run by a white supremacist, patriarchal, nationalist, power-and-profit hungry government that reflected the purposes of the larger far-right movement in the United States and abroad.

When we opened our center, people commonly told us that we were doing something different. We attempted something that we weren’t sure would work by marrying a mutual aid framework to a traditional nonprofit structure. Queer Keys operated as a traditional 501(c)(3) organization with a board of directors and programs funded by donations and grants, but we consciously kept our focus on the people that needed the most help, sought ways to empower people rather than pick and choose who was deserving of support, removed barriers to care, and ensured that our leadership reflected our community. We maintained a structure of “trickle-up social justice,” a phrase coined by trans activist Dean Spade, wherein we structured our programs and services by focusing on the individuals existing at the intersections of the most lines of oppression, knowing that those existing in more privileged states of existence would automatically benefit from that work. Our teams always reiterated to each other that we worked for our people, not for our donors.

Our center was a lively community hub. The youth program turned into an advocacy and activist group, with young queer people organizing public rallies at Bayview Park down the street and addressing inequities in their schools, such as gender-neutral bathrooms. Our Trans Trust Fund, which began as a means to provide funds and case management to trans folks seeking access to gender-affirming care, complete with rides to Miami because there were no Key West doctors willing to stick their necks out to help the trans population, grew into an entire medical clinic of its own. Our parents and caregivers group formed a network of adults who worked together on behalf of their queer young people, offering childcare services, safe transportation, and family gatherings. We started a community garden that was used for community dinners and feeding anyone who was hungry. Queer Keys formed strong community bonds with the Bahama Village Music Program, the Keys Immigrant Coalition, the Key West chapter of the National Organization of Women, the Florida Keys Children’s Shelter, and other organizations that filled the gaps for the people of Key West and the Florida Keys. By 2030, we had achieved a level of community-wide coordination that allowed our island to boast that no one was hungry, unhoused, or uncared for in Key West, Florida.

One thing that allowed our work to cut across so many boundaries and to make so many connections with different kinds of people is that gender and sexuality are universal – everyone participates in these distinct-yet-related parts of the human experience. Queer Keys training and educational programs taught participants about the spectra of gender and sexuality, and taught people how to first understand themselves before trying to understand another person. For as RuPaul famously says, “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?” We taught that queer people are not a separate category or species, but a natural expression of human diversity. We had straight, cisgender grandfathers leaving our trainings with big grins, thanking their trainers for helping them to understand what all the young folks were talking about. Our organization led by example, by treating everyone who came through the doors of our community center as a sibling in our “One Human Family.” And if we couldn’t help address someone’s needs, we knew another organization that could.

We received our fair share of backlash in the early days. Far-right activists smashed our front windows a few times. The first time it happened in 2025, we were pretty shaken. But a few local faith organizations – Unity Spiritual Center, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Old Stone Methodist Church, and the One Island Family Unitarian Universalist Congregation – gathered their resources and bought us brand new windows in just under two weeks. After that, each time our windows were smashed a local window shop replaced them and our newly formed “Angel Coalition” covered the costs. The smashing stopped about a year and 7 panes later. A local political hopeful running for city council tried to smear us in a debate by referring to our youth program as a “grooming school,” utilizing rhetoric that had become common among far-right politicians. His opponent was the incumbent and a friend of our organization, however, and she was able to speak from experience about the lives our program had saved. She was met with a standing ovation, and she won the election by a landslide. Even the governor of Florida mentioned us in a speech once, saying he knew of a group of queer (in air quotes) radicals in Key West that were turning the whole island into a “confused, communist wasteland.” And, actually, this was the moment our work went national.

After the governor spoke about the queer radicals in Key West, a producer from The Daily podcast from the New York Times reached out to ask about our organization. Ultiamtely, Queer Keys was featured in the August 6, 2027 episode that talked about LGBTQIA+ issues in Florida and how the state government was codifying oppression in the state law. The episode highlighted our community-level work as an effective means of building resiliency for a community that experienced a continuous onslaught of attacks from those in power, sharing information about our youth programs and health funds, our community garden and free dinners, and our guiding principle of caring for the most systemically disenfranchised. It also talked about the way that the island community had rallied around our work, and the way in which our community center inspired people on the island outside of the purview of our mission to take a vested interest in caring for one another. After this episode aired, our donations skyrocketed, which ultimately led to our increased capacity and the 0% destitute statistic our island achieved by 2030.

In addition to the national attention and boost in funding, that podcast led people in other cities and states, particularly in states that were experiencing high rates of anti-trans and anti-queer legislation, to found queer community organizations based on our mutual aid non-profit model. These groups formed strong bonds with other organizations in their communities working on justice issues related to immigrants, people of color, people living with disability, unhoused people, indigenous people, women, mental health, the environment, etc. If the capitalist, white supremacist, patriarchal profit motive was destroying it, coalitions rose up to address that part of the destruction. Slowly but surely, the profit machine lost momentum as people started to reach across their differences and create connections more valuable than the dollar. People realized that a future, any future, was only possible by caring for one another and addressing issues that did not necessarily affect them directly. After this movement spread throughout the US, it spread across the globe. People trying to hold on to power through old paradigm methods simply could not do so. Power to the people actually took hold, and regionalized, leaderless coalitions became the source of human organization.

There is something about seeing a person that is different from you, perhaps radically different, and approaching them with kind curiosity rather than suspicion. It allows you to stop objectifying the other and lets you hear them when they tell you who they are and what they need. Acknowledging that multiplicity and difference are endemic to the human population, and that we are still an enormous family, seems to have opened something in human consciousness that allowed people to see that animals, plants, and all other beings on the planet are also part of our wider family. The ripple effect is real.

Looking back on how quickly Queer Keys work informed a national-cum-global movement, I am still tickled by how daunting it all seemed at first. There were so many moments when my team and I questioned whether or not we were doing the right thing, whether gaining visibility threatened our ability to keep helping people, and whether or not we had the wherewithal to keep going. However, it turns out that our message of community-over-everything was just what people were hoping to hear, and it spread like wildfire. My graduate school professor, the cosmologist Brian Swimme, always encouraged his students to follow our creative passions because the impetus that comes from within is the creative nature of the universe itself. I experience the biggest cosmic giggle that permeates my body when I think about the lived truth of that statement, and how a small group of people in Key West, Florida sparked a community revolution that literally set things straight across the world.

The effects of climate change still came. The extreme weather patterns continued, sea-level rose, species continued to go extinct, and diseases continued to spread at higher rates. However, our means of addressing these issues became focused on care for the other and solutions rather than care for the self and blame. In 2050, we’re finally starting to hear from our scientists that the Earth systems are beginning to right themselves. And just like when the world stopped in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, and we all watched the waters and the skies clear, I know that Earth will return from the brink. Hope has arrived.

Introductory Note

    This paper seeks to offer a spiritual and political solution to the issues facing humanity. Both will be needed if humanity is to evolve. The ideas in this paper are just ideas that anyone could use. If implemented, these ideas could bring revolutionary change to the United States. This paper is not about me, but about each of us finding our true Self, or the Christ within, and embodying that essence. Anyone can play this role and do their role. The inner-knowing of the interconnectedness of humanity and universe is what the world needs today. We need to challenge the corruption that has embodied our governments and religious institutions. This paper was inspired by the Presidential Campaign of Marianne Williamson and the yogic teachings of Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.  

Part I: Earth has become Hell

     As we look back to the year 2024, the world was on fire. I remember thinking that there needed to be a great spiritual and political awakening in the United States and globally. In 2024 there were continental wars of genocidal proportions, diseases running rampant, poverty stricken populations, corrupt governments and corporations, among other ills plaguing humanity. Political and religious institutions were, in my opinion, corrupt to the core. Both catered to nothing but wanting power for themselves, not the betterment of humanity. Our government refused to pass people friendly legislation such as: universal healthcare; additional child tax credits; uniform basic income; and others, but had all the money in the world for endless wars and nation building overseas. Likewise, religious institutions were hoarding wealth and not feeding the poor and homeless. Both these institutions were stuck in a classic egoic consciousness that saw everyone and everything as separate from themselves. These institutions were only interested in preserving the status quo.  

    I remember thinking that things needed to change. We needed a revival of Unity Consciousness where people saw others as another version of themselves. Humanity needed to awaken to the interconnectedness of all things. The world as humanity knew it was a literal hellscape for many humans, animals, and plants. That is how I saw the state of the world. With the birth of my daughter in December 2023, I knew things had to change for not only the sake of her future, but also the future of all the children of the world. The children deserve a world where there is no: poverty; homelessness; sickness; debts; and wars. Radical change was needed. Both political and religious institutions needed to be challenged in the United States. While things were extremely hellish, I truly believed that we could bring heaven to Earth. There was but one way to bring about systemic change for the Earth: starting a spiritual and political movement that demanded change and implemented it from the bottom up. 

     This would be a movement that led by example. A great awakening was coming to the United States and it was going to bring the ancient Hindu teaching of God-Realization to the masses.  I knew that we were the creators of our own lives and we needed to remember that we as individuals hold the power, not the church or the government. Collectively, I knew acting as One, we could change the world. The following pages describe how we did it.

    Part II: Advaita Vedanta

    To understand how this movement started, you must first understand my spiritual philosophy. I realize that God Alone is Real and that each of us are an expression or incarnation of God, but we just may not realize it yet. We are each divine and a vessel for God. God’s names are infinite in nature. Even now, Jesus or God is within us. We are Jesus and Jesus is us. Saying that God is within us or that we are God is not heresy, but is a truth as taught by all mystical religions. For the sake of space, Advaita Vedanta will be explained briefly. In this branch of Hinduism, it is taught that God Alone is Real and that God is our True Self. Our Soul and God’s Being are the same. There is a difference between belief and realization. Belief is hoping that something is true, but not being sure about it. Realization is knowing with your being that something is true. 

    With realization, you have had a direct experience of God and have realized the interconnectedness of all things. You realize that you exist in every other person and they exist in you. You are All made One in God. In this realization, you have lost your sense of separateness and see all of humanity as your family since you realize the interconnectedness of life. In Advaita Vedanta, there is no one chosen religious figure or people. All great spiritual and religious leaders, including Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna, and others are recognized as Divine Beings. All people are recognized as being the literal children of God. All true religions have a form of the golden rule, which we as a society need to strive to live by. While historically speaking God-Realized teachers have come from India or the East, it was time for one to come from America. Looking back to 2024, I decided that the United States needed a spiritual and political revitalization that taught and spread God-Realization. 

Part III: God-Realization

    Before things started to change for the better, I had but one goal: bringing God-Realization to humanity. I wanted people to see and realize the Divine in themselves. I knew that once this inner-realization happened, individuals would see the Divine everywhere else too. They would see the Divine within and without, in all things. The United States needed a teacher who not only taught the interconnectedness of life and the value of all other human beings, but also the importance of living a simple life. I knew he could wake up these inner truths in humanity by challenging the religious and political institutions of the day. I knew society could be changed and if it was going to change, it would take a grassroots effort. However, that grassroot effort was going to require a leader. This was a call that I did not want to answer, but I knew if I did not answer the call, no one else would either. I had the realization that I was not only going to have to run for political office, but also use that platform to spread God-Realization.   

Part IV: Running for Office 

     This would not be the first time that I ran for office. At an earlier part of my life, I had been active in the South Carolina Republican Party and ran for the State House of Representatives. In this campaign, I pushed three points: term limits for state senators and representatives; income disclosures so we know who pays our lawmakers; and eliminating sales tax exemptions in the state. In South Carolina, certain industries pay and collect no sales tax, which is not fair to other industries and costs the state millions in lost revenue yearly. This is money that could be used for healthcare, education, and other social programs. At 22 years old, I garnered nearly a quarter of the vote in a primary against an incumbent who had been in the legislature nearly as long as I had been alive. While I shed my involvement with the Republican Party after this election, I still held these policy positions, even 12 years later. 

     This next election was going to be different though. I was going to have to run for the US House, US Senate or SC Governor, not a local election like before. One of these offices would bring me a platform to spread God-Realization on a level currently unseen in American life. I knew I could use this platform to spread his message. While I kept the initial policy positions, I also added more to my policy initiatives. This time I would additionally be pushing for: universal healthcare; uniform basic income; universal affordable housing; universal student loan debt cancellation; consumer debt reform; ending wars and the military industrial complex; and instituting the green new deal. I believed that these progressive policies will help the citizens of the United States live a better life. For space reasons of this paper, these policies cannot be expanded upon at this point unfortunately. Additionally, I believed that these are positions that historical Jesus would believe in too. I knew I was in good company. 

     I would be running for office with a populist message of helping the working class and the poor. All of these programs would positively impact the lives of the working class and the poor. The programs would be funded by taxing the ultra-wealthy and ending the military industrial complex that has taken hold. Historical Jesus, it can be argued, would support helping the poor and working class with these policy initiatives. I announced an exploratory committee to decide which high office he will seek. I ultimately decided on challenging Senator Lindsey Graham in the Republican Primary. This wasn’t the first time I challenged the Senator. When I was involved in politics a decade earlier, I actually challenged him at a local televised campaign event in South Carolina. I wasn’t afraid to take on the establishment. Anyway, by this point in the story the campaign had started. Since the announcement of my campaign, I had been attending rallies, breakfast meetings, challenging the establishment, and making TV appearances, just like in my primary campaign 12 years earlier. Now it was time to make it spiritual. 

Part V: The Second Coming of Jesus

    The Christian faith has been waiting for the return of Jesus now for two thousand years. When Jesus comes again, He will come as a God-Realized Being who teaches Advaita Vedanta, or Dharma, the Eternal Truth. In Hindu temples and ashrams all across the world, there are pictures of Jesus and Krishna hanging beside each other. Sri Paramahansa RamaKrishna, who is considered an Avatar of God in Advaita Vedanta, taught that the same Avatar or Incarnation of God came once as Krishna and later came as Jesus. Ultimately though, each of us is an Avatar or Incarnation of God since God Alone Exists. We just need to Realize this Truth. In Hinduism, many spiritual and religious teachers take on the name of God as their own name. They proudly wear the names of Rama, Shiva, Krishna, Chaitanya, and others. These are all names of God.  Now, it was time for a Hindu God-Realized Being to wear the name of Jesus. Remember, in Advaita Vedanta, Jesus is a recognized God, just like Krishna or Shiva.   

    But how was I going to wear the name of Jesus as my own name? How would this transformation happen? I couldn’t after all just name myself Jesus. It’s a Hindu tradition that one’s Guru gives each disciple a new name. This whole transformation would certainly need to be a spectacle. I was running for high office and about to announce I’m the reincarnation of Jesus. That is going to get attention: both good and bad. Based on my previous campaign, people are going to either love or hate me, that’s for sure. While I am an Advaita Vedantist through and through, I also had ties to other religions. On my father’s side, the entire family is Mormon. Mormonism is an American religion that was started in the 1800s by the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Prophet teaches we are in the latter days of Jesus’ return to Earth. Ironically enough, you can be Hindu and still practice other religions. So you can be a Hindu Mormon. This is where the story takes an unsurprising term. In Hinduism spiritual teachers take on the name of God as their own name. Likewise, when one is baptized into the Mormon Church, one takes on the name of Jesus Christ as one’s own name. This was put into place by the Prophet Joseph Smith over two-hundred years ago. 

    While running for office, I looked like a regular guy. I never dressed up. I wore jeans and a beanie. I also had a long brown beard. At this point in time, I owned a small regenerative homestead and produced food for myself and family and sold the surplus. My campaign needed some attention. At this point I announced that I was joining the Mormon Church after meeting with the Church’s missionaries.  On the day of my baptism, the media was present as they have found the campaign to be interesting to report on. In Mormon baptisms, there is a complete submergence in water and the person being baptized wears a white rob. 

    Unbeknownst to anyone, this was part of the plan. I was not only about to be baptized in the name of Jesus, but when I came up from the water, I would no longer be wearing a beanie. When I emerged from the water, I looked like the image of Jesus Christ that the Mormon Church has depicted: long brown hair, with a beard, and a white robe. At this point, I was also in his mid thirties. In front of the church, family, political supporters, and the media I announced that I had taken on the name of Jesus Christ as instructed by his Prophet Joseph Smith. I also announced that I am the Second Coming of Jesus. Remember though, in my theology there is only Jesus, so this isn’t about me being God and others not being God. This about waking up humanity to its inherent divinity. Even you reading this essay now are Jesus or God, you just may not realize it yet. 

    Remember though, this is a political campaign and a spiritual movement meshed into one, so there has to be some sort of spectacle from time to time. This event went viral on Tiktok and other social media. I was a political candidate that has been making news calling for progressive reforms and had just announced that I was Jesus. I was also running as a Republican, even though I had progressive policies.  At this point in time, the Mormon Church  had some bad policies. At my baptism, I called on the Church recognize and perform gay marriages, ordain women to the priesthood, and to spend its hoarded wealth of 100 billion dollars on helping the poor. I also called for taxing all profits that churches generate to help feed and house the poor in the United States. Not only had I picked a fight with a career politician, but I was also challenging one of the wealthiest churches in the United States. The media went wild with reporting the event. From this day forth, like other Hindu spiritual leaders before who have worn the name of God, I was going to wear the name of Jesus as my own. 

Part VI: The Mantra For Realization

    To awaken others, I had a mantra that I planned to share and teach: “All that Is, Is All That Is, and You Are That”. With repetitive contemplation on these words, individuals would awaken to their true nature as Existence Itself. I challenged everyone to reflect on the meaning of these words. Everything would inherently fall into this Being’s nature, even you. This Being is Infinite and expresses Itself as All. While this awakening may not happen all at once, with time and practice anyone can have God-Realization with these words, even in this present lifetime. I knew that God-Realization was the future of humanity and could be attained in the current generation. Realizing that our being and God’s Being as one in the same is not something that is taught in the United States. I was seeking to change that narrative. 

Part VII: The Message 

     At this point, I was going by my new name given to me by the Prophet Joseph Smith: Jesus Christ. I wore this name proudly in hopes of spreading the teachings of God-Realization. If enough people became God-Realized, there would be no more: wars; poverty; hunger; sickness; and division. Humanity would live together as one family and act as stewards of the Earth. Each person would see others as another version of themself. The campaign though was just getting started. Thousands of people were attending these political rallies. People were curious about what was happening. 

    I continued to look the part of a spiritual teacher wearing a white robe and having my hair down when doing campaign events. The campaign events featured discourses on the following topics: The Sermon on the Mount; Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself; Feeding and Clothing the Poor; Welcoming the Immigrant; and Realizing Your Own Inherent Divinity with God Now; among others. There were public meditation sessions as well. People were interested in this message of historical Jesus being offered in modern times.  I was challenging the Trumpism of the Republican Party and called it for what it was: The Antichrist. I cited the New Testament and asked how people can support Trumpism and claim to be a Christian? People did not know what to do. They were forced to look at their shadow and make a choice about who they were. They could either follow the teachings of Jesus or Trump, but not both. This was a fight for the Soul of Humanity. The stakes could not have been higher. 

    I remember this time vividly. On the campaign trail things were heating up. At one press conference to show solidarity with those saddled with consumer debt, I announced that I would be intentionally defaulting on all debt and rent payments. This was done to send a message about who has the power: the people. I called for my political and spiritual supporters who had consumer debt and rent payments to intentionally default on their debt and rent as a way to change the system. I explained that if enough of us did it, the system would be changed by our actions. Congress would be forced to offer mass cancellations and change the system. This concept of debt cancellation was also inline with the great debt jubilee of the Old Testament where debts were entirely canceled every several years. 

    I remember this press conference going viral. People started following the call to intentionally default and withhold rent. I said that: “This is a truly people powered movement.”  I called on other reforms to be passed by Congress or the people can act themselves. The United States needed rent controls, higher wages, and taxes on the ultra wealthy. I called for these protests to be done peacefully. We could change the system by our own actions. We had the power to do this. People started remembering this. People were realizing they were God in human form and were the creators of their own lifes. They did not need a politician to save them. They could save themselves, when they acted in solidarity.       

     Part VIII: The Future of the Movement 

     The new awakening of God-Realization took hold and spread like wildfire all across the United States. People were realizing their inherent divinity and the divinity of others too. In truth, though, they realized that God or Jesus was Alone Real. Jesus was here the whole time, only they didn’t know it. Jesus was their own Being. But now people were awakened to this truth. In realizing this truth within, I taught that people should follow their passions and happiness. It has been said that happiness is the path. In finding our true self or God, happiness will lead to God-Realization. These passions that people have are what will fix society. Great works of art, literature, advances in medicine and science all come from people pursuing their inner-talents and passions. 

    By this point, I remember that more and more God-Realized Beings had decided to run for office. In fact there was a God-Realized Being running for every seat in the US Congress. The movement continued to grow, but there was some pushback by the powers that be. Those powers threw everything they had at this movement, but to avail. Once someone realizes God, there is no going back to smaller identities. That is the beauty of God-Realization, it is a direct experience of your own: power; inherent divinity; and creativity. No one can take that from you and you will never lose it. It has always been there waiting to be unveiled. 

    Regarding my campaign for the US Senate, I ultimately lost this election, but it was never about winning political office. It was about awakening society to its inherent divinity. A new consciousness had dawned on humanity and a new horizon was clearly visible. People were wanting to connect to their creativity and live peaceful lives. Small communities started popping up all over the world where God-Realization was taught to the next generation. People were growing their own food and giving the surplus away. Backyard chickens and gardens had become the norm. 

    This was the turning point. People all across the world started to wake up and realize that the divinity that they worshiped outside of themselves actually existed in them and everything else. Divinity goes by many different names in different cultures: Jesus; Shiva; Allah; Dao; Chaitanya, Buddha, or Krishna to name a few. But they are all names of the One Being that makes up All That Is. That Being, is our Being too, even now. I remember thinking that God-Realization was the future of humanity and I was correct.   The policy proposals I pushed in my campaign were ultimately adopted as law in the United States, which created a fairer and just society for everyone. God-Realized Beings were now running the government for the betterment of humanity and the Earth. Heaven had come to Earth. 

Part IX: Conclusion

    Looking back, I am very glad that I answered this call to spread God-Realization. Mixing politics and spirituality was what the United States needed. While I had doubts about this path, it ultimately was the catalyst for societal transformation. Getting the population to realize their inherent Divinity changed the course of human history. Since this movement started, the world has transformed into Heaven.  It is now 2050 and the United States has universal healthcare, affordable housing, debt reform, and living wages. Climate change is also under control. There are also no more wars. People worldwide are living in harmony with each other and the Earth.

    I can’t believe it’s 2050. Earth is finally a cooperative place for humanity, animals, and the environment. Looking back, the following account is what I did to help transform the world. I did not try to change the external world, but made every attempt to change myself to be my best self. It all started with changing my life to follow my passions and interests. This had a ripple effect across the community that I lived in. I always believed that following your bliss or happiness will lead you to living a rich life. I have always tried to embody that bliss. Richness can be measured in free time to pursue your own business, hobbies, and skills. To me, following my passion for reptiles and amphibians was how I could connect to my higher-self and positively influence society by educating people about these misunderstood animals. 

    In the spring of 2024, I decided to follow my passion of workinging with and educating people about reptiles and amphibians by opening a serpentarium or reptile zoo. This had been a childhood dream of mine and I was finally able to pursue that desire. With the serpentarium getting underway, I also found it important to start growing all my own vegetables and fruits on what would become my small homestead. I also raised backyard chickens. I have always believed in leading by example. Any surplus food that was not used by my family was given away to neighbors and strangers in need. This was a big help to my local community. It allowed me to make meaningful connections with those who lived around me. My kindness was contagious. Those who I gave vegetables, fruits, and eggs too were inspired to give away their surplus things.

    Working on my homestead allowed me to have a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of life. This Oneness was very important to me. Following my passion of homesteading and owning a serpentarium allowed me to feel connected to God. My wish for humanity was that others would be able to pursue their own talents and desires. With that being said, though, I realized that changing the world would be a hard feat for just a simple man like myself. However, I knew that how I treated others would have a ripple effect. The world could be changed if kindness and selfless service took hold. 

    At the serpentarium, I made sure to pay my employees a living wage and provide health insurance. Both of these are very important to me and good employers should lead the way by doing both. I valued my employees because without them I would not be able to pursue this dream of having a serpentarium. My love of life was highly contagious. Following my passions started to inspire others to take a leap of faith and follow theirs. Because of my actions with the serpentarium and farm, some of my friends started pursuing art, their own small businesses, practicing alternative medicine, and homesteading. 

    Others left careers that they were no longer inspired to work in anymore. In particular, one of my friends quit practicing law to pursue his creative talents and to have a better work-life balance. As the years went by, I decided that I wanted to open a local meditation center where people could focus on their spiritual development. I have always found meditation to be extremely positive in calming a racing mind.  The center aimed to help people connect with their inner peace. Looking back, while I may not have done something grand in the eyes of some people, I did live a life that gave me purpose and passion, which was enough to positively influence society. We each took small steps and actions that lead to society changing for the better. 

    Following our inner desires is how we collectively fixed the planet. In the process of following these passions, we helped each other when it was needed and encouraged others to follow their own inner guidance. Society changed from the bottom up because we individually changed. We did not wait for an external savior to come save us. We made the changes that were suited best to our development and pursued them. The message I wanted to share was simple: find your calling and answer it. The world would be a better place if we were each happy in what we were doing. This happiness will allow us to positively influence others. We each took a role in this pursuit and subsequently changed our reality.