What would the world look like if each person born knew they were born inherently good? What if we taught that God or the Source or Nature loved each one of us and wanted only the best for us? How would it look if all the energy tied up in guilt, shame, and regret was freed up for creative endeavors, or that the real original sin was thinking that we’re bad?

For the past few thousand years, we in the west have been bathed in the message that we are born flawed. Sometime in the dim past, the supposed first man and first woman made a decision that has damned all of us brought up in a Christian faith or any place influenced by Christianity. That’s a whole lot of us. We make God out to be some sort of mad leader who punishes the group for the sins of an individual, or a Father who holds a grudge against all his kids and grandkids for one misdeed by the oldest. Historically, much of our effort has gone toward making a better place for ourselves in heaven, and making judgments about those we deem unworthy of getting there.

I went to a workshop recently and heard something that really struck me. In 1975, a group of inmates in a New York prison began to realize that many of their fathers had been in prison, and so had their grandfathers, uncles, siblings, and friends. They realized that if nothing was done, their children had a high likelihood of spending time in prison. (They collaborated with the Quaker Project on Community Conflict, and devised a prison workshop which eventually turned into the Alternatives to Violence Project, or AVP.)  While generalizations are never accurate, I think it’s fair to say that most of those raised in the conditions above did not hear the message that they were good, and that anything was possible for them. It’s fair to say because it isn’t happening anywhere else on a large scale, either.

If we knew we were born good and that God, or the universe, or whatever, wanted only good things for us, would we be plagued with depression, sleeplessness, and heartburn? Would we continue to experience today’s level of violence? Would so many of us turn to drugs, alcohol, food, and overwork to dim our pain? Would little innocent kids worry about being saved?

I think that if we knew we were born good we’d be more likely to set high expectations for our lives and go on to meet or exceed them. It would be easier for us to see the good in others and decrease our need to criticize and punish. Knowing we’re born good would make injustice toward ourselves and others intolerable and bring out our inclination to share. Think of it. We’d be more likely to take care of ourselves, each other, and the world. We would find it easier to just be happy.

If we are truly ready for a new phase of spirituality in this dawning New Age, I vote that we go for one that teaches us that we’re born good. We’ve tried the alternative, and while it hasn’t been all bad, it could have been so much better.