Mythos: We & Them

You have been lied to about a lot of things. Today we are talking about divisions. We all live in this word of borders.

Borders like religion: Roman Catholicism. With specific formulas, practices and procedures. Physical borders: clearly demarcated on maps verifiable by surveyors and GPS satellites hovering overhead, or even skin color: Like black or white where we have charts for different skin tones and gradations. All of it, everything you know about a border isn’t at all as clearly demarcated as you would think. These are all lies.

Much like a Monet’s Water Lilies, when we get up close, the borders are extremely blurry. It all breaks down when it comes down to the individual. I have never met anyone who fit neatly into any one of those boxes. You may be the most traditional (insert religion here) but that doesn’t matter because the gauge itself is arbitrary. Say you use a book that has been around for a thousand years as your guide. Well someone wrote that book and simply took a snapshot of history and preserved it in text. That is no more a guide than you looking back at your journal from 10 years ago is an exact guide to who you are today. Everything changes.

People who don’t even follow a religion often will exclaim phrases like “Jesus Christ!” or “Oh God!.” Physical borders shift based on the people that occupy them. Those who live near or on the border often have blends of both cultures, peoples and practices. Color? Just as arbitrary. We shift darken, lighten or redden based on exposure to the sun.

At the heart of all of these concepts is division. We are all souls that are not limited to the physical. Born into a body in a place somewhere in the world. You could have just as well been born to different parents, countries, or other allegiances. Most of those who practice a religion do so because their parents practiced that religion or, based on limited exposure, they pick that religion.

Each of these are artificial forms of division. Divisions that do not truly exist. That is why we keep crossing these boundaries. People marry each other breaking every division that has ever been created, geographical, familiar, sexual, religious, cultural and many other divisions have been broken time and time again.

The reason is simple. To divide is not our nature. We divide and compartmentalize to understand but once something is truly understood we seek to add it to the whole. When you teach a child how to do basic addition, there is a point, when they realize that it is a form of counting. They have this divided concept that is finally understood and then united with counting and stored under a set of useful tools for life. This basic concept is so universal that there isn’t a single culture on earth that does not use some sort of counting and addition.

We are each related to one another. We are each part of one species. Perhaps that is why alien movies are so popular. The underlying theme becomes a single human species. But it goes further than that.

Years ago I saw an Orange-Winged Amazon parrot in my friends house and I fed it a banana. It took a larger piece than it could consume in a single bite then bit down dropping the larger part to the base of the cage. I thought “What a stupid wasteful thing to do” shouldn’t nature be more conservative? I would never do that. It took years before I understood. I was still processing ideas as an individual. One day the same nagging thought of this “wasteful” parrot came to mind. That is when it hit me. This bird should be up in a tree somewhere. If it eats this way, and drops fruit to forest floor, then it is supplying food to animals that can’t climb up in the trees. It becomes a part of something larger, an ecosystem.

It wasn’t until decades later that I realized that were aren’t that much different from this bird. We too are a part of an ecosystem. We too are wasteful. Some of us throw things away, some consume too much and others horde. Each of us is guilty of some or all of these because we see ourselves as individuals. That compartmentalizing allows us to see far further into the future and achieve dreams that come in a long span of time. Yet, it comes at the cost of being unable to see those around us as part of us.

There are two ideas in the way of human being being a single collective species.

Division
The first being the artificial concept of division. If we accept that we are not this flesh and body but something else, as well as the fact that we could have just as easily been in someone else’s position someone less fortunate or more fortunate, then we should treat our position with the vereration it deserves by helping those we can. The golden rule, treat others as you would like to be treated.

Ego
In the West Ego is both our oppressor and our God. We get accolades we don’t really care about to impress people we don’t know to feed a monster that rules our self esteem. Ego. When people are singing your praises you feel great but if that attention is withdrawn, like a drug, you long for it. You work to feed this God and think it’s a matter of pride. It’s not. Ego hasn’t ever done anything for me that I couldn’t have done without it.

So how do increase yourself or worth if you don’t feel scarcity? That was a troubling question that I was never able to process. It starts with responsibility. If there are no borders or divisions then we are all part of one family. Since we are not this body then your body, mind and emotions are a part of that family. We did nothing to deserve the abilities, status, or other forms of power we have above other people. These were a “gift” but they aren’t free.

1. Acknowledge we are all the same soul with no physical properties making us part of a the whole of humanity. Humanity must move as a single organism to thrive or fail.
2. Acknowledge we are given forms of power above those of our peers. We are thankful for these gifts.
3. Enter Spider-man “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.” We will use these gifts to help others, not for their gratitude but for our own gratitude for our creation and current position.
4. Ego plays no role. If someone thanks you give it back to our creator. If someone doesn’t appreciate you it’s irrelevant. You are only helping those around you indirectly. You don’t have to shove it in their face but you should know why you do what you do.
5. Work on it every day. This is our main purpose in life whatever else we do while we are here is just fluff. Yes we need to eat, sleep, work or maybe take a vacation (go on holiday) but our core purpose is what I have stated.

This is how “Good People” grow. People who truly understand what is valuable don’t feel a lack. They feel they have what they need. Those who have that artificial feeling of division or scarcity move towards their goals at an accelerated rate and eventually dominate those of us who aren’t here to oppress or to horde. There is still scarcity that can motivate you and you can still feel a personal state of satiation. The best of both worlds.

Lastly, don’t limit yourself in the belief that helping another human being is limited to economic help. Maybe you are a great teacher, use that to teach others this concept. Maybe you have a lot of connections with clothing manufacturers, perhaps you can start a low-cost clothing line. Perhaps you are a lawyer or an investor. If the last three teamed up you have the makings of a company. Connect and don’t divide you will meet the people you need to achieve your goals. You become an open wifi hotspot and others on the same frequency will connect with you. Together great things will happen. Just remember to take care of yourself you aren’t this body, mind or the feelings that go with them.