May We Beware of the Separation Labels Create
During this Month of May, one of my aims is to present new ways of seeing the world. Right now, the majority of people still see the world through the lens of polarity. We have a tendency to see the world as “Us vs. Them” or “Good vs. Evil”. We want to categorize everything into “Right” or “Wrong”. But nothing is ever that clear cut. I want to help shift your focus more towards unity and oneness, rather than separation. So, let me share some mental exercises you can do to move past the labels and make the shift easier.
See Beyond the Labels and the Stereotypes
It’s part of human nature to put labels on groups of people. This world is so overflowing with information, we need these labels to help us keep our brains somewhat organized. But, as soon as we start labeling something, we categorize them into a stereotype in our minds. More often than not, this flash of judgement is not necessarily the fair and correct one. We often paint the picture with too broad of a stroke. So, we need to remember that these stereotypes are made up within your mind and actively choose to dismantle them.
For example, I live within the New York City limits. And while it is known to be a very left leaning city, not all New Yorkers are Liberals. I know because I drive by a Trump sign on a daily basis. I even drove alongside a car with a “MAGA DJT” license plate once. Use signals like that around you to remind you that no one fits neatly into a mold. No matter where you go in the United States, you are still co-mingling with people who have different political ideologies. Political analysts often talk about “Red States” and “Blue States”, but by doing so, they dismiss nearly half of the population in each of those states. If we represent the populace more accurately, every state in the nation is actually a “Purple State”.
See Us From a Higher Perspective
Another thing you can do is to use that tendency of ours to categorize as an advantage. We can get in the habit of seeing us from as wide an angle as possible, so that we can lump us all into one big group. Let’s try imagining that you are a citizen of a planet far from Earth.
How interesting will they find us? Would we even show up as a side note in an article about the Milky Way Galaxy? Would they care to grace us with the term “Earthlings” or the Alien equivalent of it? When they air their documentary about Earth, do they show our wars in the same way National Geographic show lions fighting over their territories? Are we interesting enough to pay attention to or are we no different than ants? Or are ants more interesting than human beings? It’s kind of a fun way to recognize how utterly insignificant our labels are!
Hopefully, as you get in the habit of seeing the world this way, you’ll begin to care a lot less about what makes us different, and a lot more about what makes us the same.