Meritocracy suggests that a person’s value is based on their abilities and contributions to a group, organization, or society. The more you have or are contributing the greater your value and therefore your status and compensation. In this context, our value and the value of others is defined by our utility. When we succeed in this meritocracy, whether natural or spiritual, it can be easy for us to buy in to the idea that we are something simply because of what we can do.