“Please, Sir, I Want To Be The More”
Thor Challgren, RScP
“Please, sir, I want to be the more.”
Wait, is it me, or does something sound off there? If you know the musical Oliver, and the book upon which it was based, Oliver Twist, in your head you probably hear the line as “Please, sir, I want some more.”
As in, poor little starving Oliver is pleading for another dollop of gruel. He’s asking for more, pleading his case to the church workhouse employee who decides how much he gets.
To sum up this moment, Oliver believes that what he wants most (food, glorious food) is outside of him, and in the control of a capricious adult (who works for – irony alert! – a church.)
Charles Dickens published his original story Oliver Twist in 1838. This is around the time Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote many of the essays that laid the foundation for what would become new thought.
Can you imagine if Emerson had given Dickens notes on how to rewrite Oliver Twist and bring more of a new thought feeling to it? You might imagine those notes sounding like this:
EMERSON: Charles, do you mind if I call you Chuck?
DICKENS: Actually, my names is Charles.
EMERSON: So Chuck, I have to say we love the character of Oliver. So plucky. So relatable. We love him exactly as he is. If we were to make just one small suggestion to consider, and again we love what you’ve done, we wonder if Oliver might have a little more Self-Reliance, to borrow the title of my recent essay.
DICKENS: Self-Reliance. What might that look like?
EMERSON: Glad you asked. So one example. Oliver says, “Please, sir, I want some more.” Great line, by the way. Love it. This is just your second novel? Incredible. Anyway, we’re just wondering if, maybe, Oliver might already have a sense of who he is. He is the entirety of the Universe—
DICKENS: The what?
EMERSON: The Universe. God, Spirit, Consciousness. The Over-Soul. The MORE. In other words, he’s EVERYTHING. And he knows it. So this little beat, where he’s asking someone outside of him for some food. And it’s crappy food, by the way. Gruel. Bad oatmeal. Definitely not that steel-cut stuff you get at Panera. He’s pleading with someone for something when, he KNOWS he’s already the Universe. He is the More. And if he would just be the More, he wouldn’t need to ask for anything. He would just know he’s equal to it, and then he’d start moving those pathetic little shoes he has, and he could have whatever he wanted. Including better shoes. Allbirds, maybe. We could do a deal with them.
DICKENS: So you’re saying, if he remembers who he is –
EMERSON: The More!
DICKENS: If he … becomes this More you speak of.
EMERSON: Yes …
DICKENS: Then there’s nothing he cannot have, be, or do.
EMERSON: Exactly!
DICKENS: So be the More in 1824.
EMERSON: Chuck, you’re a genius! Love it! Though we may tweak the year to fit our release date.
At Global Truth Center, our theme this year is “Be the More in 2024.” We’re not talking about pleading or wanting or beseeching. We’re talking about being the More. Because More is already who you are. And when you Remember Who You Are, well, 2024 will be a whole lot easier. And the oatmeal you get as the More? It’s gonna taste a whole lot better. Steel-cut even.
