Love Letter to Humanity: Imagine a World Without Labels
“We” and “They”.
We hear it every day. Two tiny words gorging a gap between you and me. Us and them.
If I’m this (fill in the blank), I’m not that (fill in the blank). We, as a culture love to categorize. Political, religious, academic, personality, financial status, age. While we may not take an openly oppositional stance with the others in every single category, but we do notice differences.
And we measure…sometimes subtly, and other times dogmatically. But what is it that flips your switch between a sheepish appraisal, and a harsh appraisal of your fellow man?
Awareness.
And after awareness…
Are you a bit more in tune with the other?
Can you sense subtle changes in your own physiology and outlook?
Are you more willing to listen and learn?
Labels have become a familiar and frequent topic in my journal writing. But here, etched in ink through my own inner voice. Applied to self. After pages and pages of introspection, I discovered a human gap here too.
Between what I believed of my humanness, and what is actually true.
It wasn’t always so. None of us came into the world experiencing separation from self and others. So how did it happen?
We saw reflections of separation in the faces of those around us.
They say the little child will lead us.
Just for fun, let’s start with a new premise today. What would it be like to see as a child again? To look around and find unlabeled humans...everywhere. And just to satisfy those of you who squirm at stooping to such juvenile innocence, I offer a bit of supporting research.
Scientifically, all human beings are 99.9 percent identical in their genetic makeup. So, we’re really more like one big happy family.
Sure, Cousin Ned has an interesting wardrobe. And grandma has trouble remembering what day it is. And your sister is still in a small constrained room for her string of free-time choices.
But doesn’t it ease your mind and heart, just a bit, to hear the non-judgmental descriptions above. Instead of labeling these genetically similar humans.
Let’s go back and do it the old way so you can feel into the difference.
Cousin Ned is a fairy flake.
Grandma is off her rocker.
Sister is such a loser.
Ouch.
Think of it as a creative writing practice for life. Like the longstanding party game, Taboo. It’s actually pretty fun, NOT to use certain words. To see how descriptive and neutral you can make your language.
While this may feel quite constraining and pointless at first, Consider taking it for a spin. And while you’re at it, try not to describe yourself as selling your own soul and numbing your gray matter into uselessness. Because self application of labels has its own form of separation.
It’s not about numbing…it’s about noticing.
When we bring awareness to perceived divisions, there is an instantaneous breath of possibility that enters our being. A breath that remembers we are all on the journey.
Each day’s choices form a mirrored reflection. A way to see ourselves and our world in a more compassionate and inclusive way…or in continued disharmony and emotional segregation.
Think of all the arenas where this could come in handy.
Imagine the news without political labels. What! We just might have to think for ourselves instead of depending on a party or person to tell us who to support and what to believe.
And what about criminal trials? How would evidence look different if we deleted labels of age, race, or culture from suspected perpetrators? Yes we’d have to project a faceless bodyless hologram of our defendent in court. Imagine it could happen. We’ve all seen the ramifications of profiling. Not pretty.
Your boss and coworkers have a lot of ideas…probably not the same ideas as you. How can you listen and consider the opposing viewpoints without scourging your braincells with hidden condescension? You KNOW that you have envisoned hurtling these words their way…if only it was your last day of work…EVER.
Blog hopping? It’s not about right or wrong. Better or worse. It’s about a soul urge to share what is important to our own world…in hopes of connecting with others. We all learn from differing opinions. True genius is being able to imagine solutions that fuse dissonant views.
Someone cuts you off in traffic. Describe the action. And if you take a very light and whimsical tone, you might even give yourself a chuckle for thinking that you alone, have NEVER been a distracted driver. “Oh look, that car just came into my lane. What an interesting day.”
I know we live in a world of labels. But what if we just stuck with “human” for 24 hours? What if that person half way across the world, in a nation we would never choose to live in, was just like Uncle Ned? A fascinating family member.
Would we feel more lighthearted? More compassionate? More connected?
Oh…and then there’s the matter of human being exclusionary too. What about other life forms?
I’ll stop.
I wonder what taboo words you will discover in tomorrow’s collection of thoughts and conversations?
