Is Number 1 the Highest Rank? by Dr. Andre Muhammad

From an early age, most of us are taught to become the best that we can be. Whether it is to achieve that champsionship title in a sport or achieve the valedictorian status of a graduating class, most of us have been taught to become "numero uno." As a result of our qwest to become such, we often stress ourselves to achieve what is highly limited and coveted. The downside of such a notion is that there is only one number one spot. What happens to all of those who fall short of number one? In general, those who fall short are those who eventually lick their wounds and continue to reach for that ever elusive number one spot. From last place to first place, and all positions in between, this continual process of achieving the most coveted position is, for the most part, our motif operandi, and we apparently are willing to pay a significant price for achieving or failing to achieve such. The price we pay many times impacts us mentally, spiritually, and physically and we, as a result, rarely come to understand the systemic cause for our disease and discontentment.

When an individual rexamines his/her position in the grand scheme of things, the enlightened one will arrive at a position, for lack of a better phrase, that is even more loftier than number one. That position is the mindset in which all competition is in fact removed for all intents and purposes, so that the individual finds him/herself in a mental state in which there is a new criteria for ranking, one in which the human soul encounters a quiet strenght that enables him/her to demonstrate a degree of longevity that far exceeds those who base their existence on strength and the security of rankings and status.

For one to celebrate what it means to be number one, he/she must have experienced what it was like to have been to be other than that. For one to understand what it means to be strong, he/she must have experienced what is was to be weak. The wise one understands this subtle discernment and, subsequently, subscribes to a notion of oneness of all ranks.

Peace and blessings!