The Tax of Maintaining Hierarchy

The Tax of Maintaining Hierarchy is the hidden cost extracted from anyone who invests in favoritism. When we choose certain people as more worthy of our love, time, resources, or attention, we must continuously justify and defend that choice. We monitor whether those we favor remain appreciative. We worry whether others notice and resent our preference. We rationalize away the needs of those we've deprioritized. We experience guilt beneath our justifications. This taxation is constant and exhausting. Rabia taught that undivided love eliminates this burden. When you love without preference, you need no defense, no hierarchy to maintain, no story about why some deserve more. The energy previously spent on preference becomes available for genuine presence. The psychological peace of non-judgment replaces the vigilance required to police the boundaries of your favoritism. The community around you no longer operates as a competition for scarce love but as a network of equal belonging. By calculating what hierarchy actually costs—in attention, authenticity, peace, and spiritual energy—this concept invites us to recognize that favoritism is an enormously expensive habit that impoverishes both our interior life and our relationships.