You look out, brooding from your chair:
You see the shimmering cities… the vast works… the raw power, wielded by those so seemingly far above you…
But you, too, have a kingdom:
Every Starbucks run…
Every gas station fill-up…
Every dental checkup, every physical, every UPS package left at your door…
You think of all these people you encounter as the employees of others, but they are YOUR loyal subjects:
Yours AND mine.
For unlike the stark and solitary kingdoms of old, with one king atop the pile, we stand in a new reality.
Today we are all kings.
You will not see your kingdom on any map, but it’s there, regardless. ALL of them are: yours, mine, your brother’s…
Millions of kingdoms, overlapping and invisible… the boundary lines expanding or shrinking according to the piss and will and vinegar of each reigning man.
You go on oblivious, thinking your life plebeian, servile, contained… blind to the largess at your fingertips.
That woman there, by your side… she is your queen: as radiant or diminished as you’ve chosen to make her;
Those four walls you live in… that is your castle: made hovel or refuge by YOUR heart and YOUR hand.
Your queen, your court, your counselors… all of them waiting, all of them ready to help make your kingdom as small or as great as you desire.
The wood is laid, the tinder is set: all that’s left is the will to blaze.
If you long for a larger game…
A broader expanse…
Your own sweeping story…
Stop bowing to other men’s lights and make it the fuck so.
You already have all you need.
…
Bryan Ward is the founder of Third Way Man and author of the LIT Black Paper
I’ll take it one step farther… what if you were actually the servant to all the people you made contact in a day?? Your job was to empower another, be it a thank you or a smile or a word of encouragement. The power of a person multiplies when they step outside themself and start bettering others.