THE MAKER AND THE UNMAKER
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The following is an excerpt from Rosie von Lila’s book FELLOW: Essays on Mass Human Flourishing, out in 2023.
INTRODUCTION
We are playing a Big Game. We are out to create a team of 100,000 people who are on fire in their power, ever less at the effect of destructive mindsets. 100 million individuals pursuing their own passions, nourishing themselves, and being a contribution in the world in ways that light them up. When you’re lit up, you’re having fun. When you’re lit up, you feel alive. We call it joining Team Humanity. When you can build a team of 100 million people, you can build a team of 1 billion, and when you can do that, you can shape global culture. It is time for mass human flourishing.
We’re not here to solve your pains. We’re here to show you that the path to human flourishing is yours to make. We’re here to show you the steps that we’ve taken to create flourishing in our lives. We’re not here to solve your problems. We’re here for you to create a life you love.
You are a conduit for the energy of The Maker. You are equally a conduit for the energy of The Unmaker. You are at choice every moment. The Unmaker needs no help in ushering in the processes of breakdown, separation, decay, composting, and destruction. The Unmaker is relentlessly, consistently at work. Unmakery is the constant background activity of the universe (entropy). It is the default result of existence — vibrating us all back to The Nothingness. Makery happens through acts of consciousness, creating, connecting, lovemaking, birthing, playing, wondering. It creates joy, belonging, and delight in the world. At any given moment, you have the full power and choice to be an expression of The Maker or one of The Unmaker.
Anyone can join Team Humanity. No one can choose you to be on this team — you must choose yourself. Will you let yourself be the last to be picked for the Team? Or will you choose yourself today to start playing on Team Humanity? To be on the Team requires choosing your own Adventure.
— Team Humanity
THE MAKER AND THE UNMAKER
Thesimula created Maké and Unmé to play a forever game of learning. At the dawn of their existence, the twins were crafted with a special secret, one known only to those willing to explore The Great Puzzles of The Multiverse. Together, the twins were Everything. Maké was a visual splendor: to look upon Maké was to behold all the creation in the Multiverse at once — an ever-changing kaleidoscopic movement of images of life in full bloom, the beauty of spring flowers, the joy of baby animals, the wonder of perpetual new life, summer fruit juicy and ripe on the branch, alive and radiant with greens, pinks, reds, blues, a non-stop flourishing of the bright hues of the Living. Maké’s kaleidoscopic appearance showed Order on display: the order of leaves on a tree in summertime; the order of a community working together in harmony on a shared endeavor; the order of a pair of ducks teaching their young ducklings to swim in a creek’s current; the order of a heart pumping in consistent rhythm to support Life; the order of thoughts giving birth to the experience of connection, freedom, ease, innocence, play, and joy. All of this was visible when looking upon Maké.
Unmé was difficult to see. Equally kaleidoscopic in appearance to Maké, Unmé seemed to constantly evaporate and disappear, collapsing inward as if from a Black Hole’s inescapable pull. Unmé’s images fell apart into pieces from unceasing, constant breakdown. It was as if Unmé was always turning into stardust, becoming invisible to the eye and leaving empty space where something once existed. Unmé’s colors, when visible, were of winter, decay, oblivion, and the empty space of possibility. When one could see Unmé, the images were of Chaos: a wildfire roaring through a forest leaving only charred death; animals sick from disease; tissue cells breaking down from cancer; decaying bodies; cars crashing; Life ending. Unmé’s images could be glimpsed, and then vanished, vibrating into Nothing.
From the moment Thesimula set the twins in motion, Unmé and Maké were always at play with each other. Maké would make something. Unmé would destroy it. Maké made a flower. First its delicate, green, early spring shoots, followed by a bud protected in its tight encasing, and finally an emergent glorious rose with lavender petals. Maké brought bees to visit the rose and climb upon its petals and delicate center. Maké shone sun upon the rose, bathing its leaves in nourishing light. Unmé destroyed the rose, withering the petals, producing a naked stem with dying leaves to fall away. Where the beautiful life once existed, empty space was made.
Maké created a perfect sunny summer day and inspired the people to come out for a picnic. On a grassy spot overlooking a beautiful river, Maké brought them together to sit on a blanket. Maké made the day joyous as the people watched elegant boats go by and the children played at imagining sky creatures in the clouds. Maké made the food nourishing and tasty. The people played ukulele and sang little ditties. They enjoyed delicious drinks and lively conversation connecting about their favorite recent things. Unmé sent an unexpected storm with dark clouds. Gusts of cold wind. Sudden torrential rain. The people jumped up! They ran for cover as Unmé blew their picnic wildly across the grass. Disorder replaced all things orderly.
One day the younger twin asked, “Unmé, why do you always break what I create?”
Unmé innocently replied, “What do you mean?”
Maké said, “Every time I make something, you ruin it. You break it. You make it go away. Why?”
Unmé said casually, “It’s what I’m made to do.”
Maké asked, “What do you mean?”
“Whuddaya mean, ‘What do I mean?’ It’s what I’m made to do. Maké you’re made to create. Unmé is made to un-create.”
Maké said, “Oh.” A moment later, “Why do you think that is?”
Unmé thought about it. “I dunno. I suppose if the Multiverse were always blooming, one day it would be too full to bloom any further.”
A little while later, “You know, it’s kind of like I’m always cleaning up after you.”
Maké, playing defensively and smiling with laughter, “What are you talking about?!”
“Well, if nothing decayed, nothing broke down, nothing died, there would be no room for anything new. You’d have no more creating, no more learning, no more inventing, none of that. Because of Unmé, Maké always has renewed space to play. You always have inspiration to create something new.”
Playfully, Unmé added, “And, you always get an adventure… you never know what’s going to happen!”
Maké laughed and thought about it. A little while later, looking downward, “But it’s sad when things end.”
Unmé quietly spoke the Secret: “Every ending is a beginning. It is Maké who makes it so.”
