There are about 6 billion people that live on this planet today. It is most intriguing to realize that we are nearly all identical. Our genetic, social, psychological, emotional and spiritual similarities far outweigh our differences.
Humans are human whether primitive or industrialized, male or female, African, Asian or Caucasian, or tall or short.
The paradox is that each of us also feels so unique that we spend the greater part of our lives trying to explain ourselves to each other in the hope that we can be heard or understood, as if no one else could possibly know what it is like to live in our skin.
If we can agree on nothing else, we seem to agree that one of the primary threads that run throughout all of human existence is struggle. We struggle to live, we struggle with each other over physical and emotional resources, we struggle to avoid pain, to find happiness and to make sense of our lives
Where we differ as individuals, is in the arenas in which we play out our struggles and the metaphors we use to symbolize the important elements of out lives. Person struggles with a life threatening illness, another struggles to resolve the horrors of incest while another struggles to find peace within the walls of their own home. Each of us searches for the same things in life but with metaphorical meanings that are our very own.
The human soul is layered and faceted with endless manifestations which is why we are so complex and so fascinating. We are layered because our struggles are layered, because our meaning systems and our cores are layered.
Some people only see the surface layer.
Things are simplified by the 90 second tv analysis syndrome. … well he was obviously a fraud and rotten to the core. But is that all that person was? Or does it take to much time to say..He was a fraud in this aspect of his life, but in this other aspect he was honourable, and in yet another aspect he was confused..
Each human has multiple layers, we forget that.
Now in dealing with each other, to overcome the stasis of negative emotion gathering, we need a set of basic rules. We need to allow people space to exhibit their goodness, in an atmosphere of willing interchange of information.
As children we are taught by our parents that bad language and personal attacks on a person does not win kudos, in fact the parent spend time showing the child how to overcome the layering effect by being nice.
Often times, when we first begin to wrestle with issues relating to adulthood, the surface of our lives is disrupted and our forays into our arenas of struggle are confused and intense. Our path is sometimes impeded by being a Jehovahs Witness, and our consequent departure from the religious order has delayed our growth to maturity. One layer of our selves, the anger and need for freedom burst through and dominates all the other facets of ourselves.
We forget. With freedom and rights, comes the greater burden of RESPONSIBILITY both to ourselves and to others.
Intellectualizing the emotions, and allowing the intellect to dominate along with rationalization of every subject or rudeness projected, does ourselves an injustice. We lose out on respect from others, and in the long run become less than whole.
While I find myself laughing and am highly amused by some of the wittier but nonetheless demeaning rude and arrogant comments that abound at times on this board…I am also aware that respect for that person diminishes by the lack of control over that hurtful facet or layer exhibited by the writer….and in the long run, whatever other layers of goodness, intellect, kindness that the writer has, is subjugated by the predominant layer as shown in public.
If this is meant to convey any message, and it is, I hope we see the similarities between us, and that we choose to refrain from being as nasty and rude and ignorant of the fact that others know subconsciously, that the giver of abuse, is really just making excuses for not trying to be as nice as they can be…..and in the long run will lose out because they did not take the responsibility seriously enough to care for himself or others..and will end up isolated and alone.
After all..we are the same.