By: Libby
Feminism is for everyone. It appears to be a very simple concept. We can easily recognize that not only people of color should be for the end of racism, and similarly not only females should be for the end of sexism. Why is it difficult for so many people to grasp such a basic concept? This is because we have been conditioned since childhood to see the polarity of all aspects of life…black/white, masculine/feminine, good/bad, right/left, up/down. It is only when we move past these polarities that we truly understand the gift that our human diversity provides.
To do this, we must first recognize our own thought processes. And by “our own” – I am referring to the singular. Notice and listen to the little mental judgments and labels we tend to place on all people, places, and events. You are driving and notice a girl walking down the street in a very eyebrow-lifting outfit. Many women may think to themselves “That girl must be a prostitute…look at her!” Judgment. Labeling. You must seek a place inside yourself where you can truly accept all people, whether you perceive them as good, bad, or different from you, like it or not. It seems difficult at first to be your own hall monitor, but if you just take notice of this subtle egoism, that is going a long way. Don’t punish yourself if you find you have a thought like this, just let it pass. Neither deem it so nor dwell on it. I promise you, you will find much liberation when this becomes your standard. As Gandhi said so eloquently, “Be the change the you wish to see in the world.”
What we all seek is peace and relief from all the injustice we face, no matter what the cause. We must embody that sense of peace and relief, and genuinely demonstrate that towards others. You will find that when you truly come to peace with all of existence, existence will be at peace with you.
Much love and prosperity on your journey,
Libby
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing these beautiful words, Libby.
I agree completely. I can't seem to comprehend how everybody doesn't instinctively desire equality for everyone else. Some people don't seem to assign any value at all to other human beings. It hurts me when I notice that in the world.
I also have found that it is sometimes very difficult to be non-judgmental. Judgment comes so easily, so quickly - It's usually happened before I can stop it.
When I recognize what has happened, I then judge myself for being judgmental and the cycle continues.
Good luck on your quest for inner peace as well.
Christopher
People do instinctively desire equality....they just aren't instinctively altruistic. Try this experiment:
Take two random people and give person A $5. Now ask them if they would rather keep their $5 in which case person B gets a chance to win $1000, or would they rather give up their $5 and neither one of them gets to win $1000. They will always choose to gain nothing than see someone else gain a lot more. Its true we are conditioned to see the polarity of life, but this is also the nature of the mind. Its what it does...it groups things, finds self-similar patterns, opposition, the dichotomy of self and other....when a pattern fits, a bunch of neurons fire and burn an engram into the tissue and a memory is formed. It can now draw a correlation between self and other...the world as I find it. And of course, from a genetic standpoint if you want to pass on your genes you protect what is "self" more than what is "other". And its true that cooperation indeed trumps competition over time, but until now time has taught us that the world is generally hostile and not friendly. Its predatory, its parasitic.
Our thoughts themselves are predatory and parasitic. That's why its easier to judge...its the more successful meme. Our thoughts are indeed competing in a very real way for our consensus belief system, its an emergent phenomena of dumb, dumber, and outright dangerous ideas and that is the problem.
Its very enlightening to develop the ability to observe your thoughts as passing clouds, but I think we have a bigger responsibility. Belief systems cause more than inequality they cause war, genocide, retardation of progress, maybe even our total demise, lets not forget as Juan Enriquez put it "that we are but one of several hominids that have walked the Earth (erectus, habilis,neanderthalis, heidelbergensis, ergaster, australopithecus). We keep thinking we are the one and only, the special. But we easily could not have been a dominant species. Or even a species anymore. We blissfully ignore the fact that we came within about 2,000 specimens of going extinct (which is why human DNA is virtually identical)."
Its not enough to recognize coercion and linguistic programming in media ...on the street...we have to actually take a stand to what viruses, what poisons our minds are exposed to. And this itself is a recursive process which is again a competition of memes..the infinite loop...its very exhausting to have contradictory beliefs. When it comes to our thoughts, we can't just as Mark Twain put it "Eat what we like and let the food fight it out" Again I think it was Darwin that said it a little more eloquently when he sad "The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts"
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