Athens, Greece (above): Odeon of Herodes Atticus on the SW slope of the Acropolis in Athens. The arts are an amazing avenue for finding our common humanity | So this is week 4 of my blog. I started with the question of finding our common humanity and how this question interacts with the questions I asked at the beginning of TKC: What does it mean to be human, what does it mean to follow one's dreams, and what does it take to be happy? Answering these questions started with me. I had to find out who I was at my core before I could answer these questions. That is how it works for finding our common humanity, as well. We have to know who we are at our core before we can access the wisdom of our common humanity. A wisdom that surpasses the us v. them mentality, understanding that we are all one - we are all connected. My fate is tied to that of all living creatures. Finding our common humanity requires a belief in plenty. It is not about us v. them, you v me. |
This type of mentally works against our common humanity - brings about division, anger, and hate instead of unity, joy, and love. It is a mentality based in fear and cowardice, unwilling to accept responsibility for the place one finds oneself. It is easy to fall into this mentally, to act out of fear and anger - they are part of our biology and physiology, after all. If we don't learn to recognize our reactions that are based in fear we may find that we become caged animals, remaining trapped in a narrow worldview, seeking temporary reprieves of freedom. This is no way to live and will never lead to true freedom of choice or happiness.
By becoming aware of the biological and physiological impulses that lead with fear and take away our ability to live an authentic, independent life, we move away from our self-imposed cages. Only through awareness will we learn who we are at our core, opening the pathway to our common humanity.
Namaste.