I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about life. It is something I enjoy doing. I find people fascinating and I work hard to understand others to minimise bitterness toward anyone. Often, I wake with a fresh train of thought, perhaps I have ruminated on something in my dreams. Apparently, our dreams are a way of resolving issues while we sleep. This morning’s rumination was about seeing ourselves in a deeper way.
It is interesting that we think we are so different from one another. We compare ourselves with each other, making our differences appear greater than they are. Our competitive nature creates distance between us and is a source of conflict.
Yet, if we look deeper, we find more similarity than difference. Each of us has a heart that beats, blood which runs through our veins and a brain that thinks. We all experience the same feelings of joy, hope, love, compassion, fear, anger, shame, and guilt. Yet, we tend not to think about our real similarities.
No child is born with hatred toward another. Children are innocent until they become indoctrinated by our way of thinking. We are taught from a young age to differentiate, to see ourselves as right or wrong, as different, better, smarter, dumber, bigger, smaller from one another. This creates insecurity and defensiveness. Which is at the centre of conflict.
Our differences are only in our mind, not in our nature or our body. We learn to see difference, rather than to see commonality. We have learned to see each other as separate rather than one living being, individuals, rather than a community.
To see another in love is to see more deeply, to question the surface perspective and to seek to understand. Love sees us as one, a community. It does not differentiate, nor compete. It does not alienate but increases our closeness to one another. It creates an atmosphere of safety.
In love, Jenny
