Descending Alone Before Ascending Together

Soren Kierkegaard gave a parable about a King who wanted to win the love of a peasant girl, or a Maiden from the video above. In order to do this, he had to first dethrone himself and descend to her level. Only in this way could he know that her love for him was for him and not for his status as King.

There is similar sort of matching when it comes to using social media. You must speak to the level of your audience. Marketers know this, and they do it well. There is a science of statistics to knowing what what people want and what works and what doesn't work in terms of the medium you use to get it to them.

The sad thing about our society though is that what people want is often not what they need. And, what they need is not what they want. In order to elevate the culture, first one must do as the King and descend to its level. But, where you start is not where you end.

The culture will drag down weak souls and so you must do as Nietzsche would say and overcome the herd mentality of the masses. You must be strong to do this and not merely pander to their needs.

BYU, where I attend school, has a TV station who has a two fold purpose for their television programs:

1. To Entertain
2. To Educate

It is helpful to look at the two as inversely related. The more entertaining, the less educating it is; and the more educating it is, the less entertaining it is. The best is to do both, but there is a delicate balance and that's why it is key to know your audience.

You have to find out where they are at on the continuum or merely wanting to be entertained to wanting to be inspired, enlightened, or invigorated to act and change.

The parable of the King and the Maiden relates back to Jesus Christ and how he became a man, a mortal, to descend in order that we might ascend and that we might be like him. And, that our love for him will be as his love for us already is and always was. Just like the King.