Categorization
Friends, enemies, lovers, strangers. We divide up our world and the people in it, treating people differently, based on which category they fall into. Most of us do it – we treat those we love with preferential treatment, offering them kindnesses, support and care, yet we struggle to do that with those who anger us or those we do not know.
This need to categorize results in attachment – we get overly attached to certain people, tying our expectations and hopes to these people and allowing ourselves to be overly effected by how these people behave. Conversely we get attached to the idea of enemies or out-groups. This categorization of people “other” to ourselves can lead to dehumanization: the process of seeing others as somehow below us and thus not deserving of the same rights and attention. Just look to our history to see this – the US slave trade, the Nazis, the Tutsi (translated as “rich in cattle”) and the Hutu (translated as “servant”) in Rwanda.
Religion
Treating people equally is a key feature of religion – both the theistic religions, such as Christianity and the atheistic religions, such as Buddhism. Look at the bible, the Qu’ran, the Torah and Buddhist teachings and you will see reference to the importance of treating people with dignity and respect. The desire for happiness for oneself and others goes hand in hand with this. As his Holiness the Dalai Lama recently stated in a public talk in Louisville, KY: the goal of all religions is to be happy and free, the path to that goal is different. Choosing one’s own path is our prerogative and provided we follow the true path as laid out in the scriptures or readings, we will learn how to be kind and compassionate to all human beings.
Outside of the religions we see this idea in the Golden Rule – the idea that we treat others as we hope to be treated ourselves. How might we address this outside of the religious context? Role-playing with school children around issues such as bullying and exclusion. Involving people in community outreach – particularly with groups of people that they may have had little interaction with or might categorize as “other” for example: incarcerated individuals, the homeless, people from different religious or ethnic backgrounds. The public schools in Louisville, KY have been doing this recently as part of their commitment to the Compassionate Cities Charter that they recently signed. See http://charterforcompassion.org/news-and-events/article/130 for more information.
Consider the following practice as a way to work with these feelings of categorization:
Practice of Exchange
There is a practice you can do yourself. It is called the practice of exchange. Find a quiet place to sit.
1) Relax your hands on your lap and practice a few minutes of seated meditation: let the mind settle and the breath be your tool into the practice.
2) Visualize a bright white light in your heart center. As you breathe in, inhale hot, dark, heavy smoke through every pore of your body. This smoke is dissolved by the bright, clean, clear light of your heart center. As you breathe out, exhale bright, clean, clear light.
3) Repeat this for a few rounds, focusing on the thick, heavy, dark smoke coming in to your body, and the bright light exiting your body.
4) Picture someone standing in front of you. Someone who you love. Take a moment to reflect on their suffering – either physical or emotional. (Don’t worry if you can’t explicitly articulate their suffering).
5) Inhale their suffering in the form of hot, heavy, dark smoke, which is dissolved in your heart center. Exhale bright, clean, clear light which touches this person, dissolving their suffering. Exhale your joy and happiness, giving it to this person, while you inhale their suffering.
6) Continue for as long as you can manage, then let the person dissolve. Allow the mind to rest on the breath for a few minutes. Then open your eyes and continue with your day.
Once you are comfortable doing this for someone you love, try doing it for someone who is neutral to you (perhaps they served you coffee this morning). Then try this practice for someone who inspires difficult feelings in you, and then finally for yourself. The more we practice this we will discover that these categories we impose are arbitrary and will shift over time, hopefully leading us to the understanding that we should treat everyone the same.
May you be happy, may you be safe, may you be healthy, may you be at ease
©Tamsin Astor-Jack, Yoga Brained LLC