To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/11/23 11:23
Subject: [K-list] Joking ? Was: Return of the dart board factor
From: winter mute
On 1999/11/23 11:23, winter mute posted thus to the K-list:
When reading Freda's story, it becomes
clear (to me) that suffering is independent
of color, culture or creed.
Many scriptures point to this "fact".
The great biologist and popular science
promoter, Dr. Desmond Morris,
who produced and hosted a tv series on
the BBC on human
behavior (ethology) and who has studied
mammalian and human behavior for a long time
and written several books on the subject,
is clear in his statements that racism
or any other kind of -ism based on values,
is in fact a deeply human trait.
The group and tribe mentality in humans is very
strong and may be the basis for value based
-isms such as racism.
Everywhere and at almost all times, humans
identify themselves with other humans on the
basis of different external or internal factors,
such as "race", profession, culture, nationality, sport, hobby, family structure,
religion etc etc.
Humans identify with a tribe and want to run
with it.
There is nothing "wrong" in this.
Humans are gregarious beings, in fact,
there are indications that
a human being that grows up without any
contact with other humans does not develop
the skills and traits we usually identify
as "human".
What is a problem is the other inherent
impulse in humans to not only identify
with a particular group of ppl, but
to promote this group and its values,
behavior and views as "better" and more
"valuable" than those of other groups,
very often another group which is easy to
identify.
Experiments show that it is very easy to
manipulate with these impulses and that they
are inherent in man from a very young age.
A classic experiment is the division of
a grade school class according to
a "neutral" trait such as blue eyes
or brown eyes, and then telling one of the two
groups that one is better than the other, i.e.
that blue eyes denote higher intelligence or
some other kind of "positive" trait.
The wish for the "right" group to believe this is so strong, it usually immediately starts to
promote it as a truth and taunt the other
group for being of "less" value than itself.
This is an extreme example.
But in our daily life, we do all sorts of value
judgements, and many almost subconsciously:
is this right or wrong, is it good or evil,
ugly or beautiful, sad or happy ?
Most often, the positive value judgments
are given ourselves, our own values, our
own behavior, belongings, friends and family
and the negative judgments given to those
belonging to others.
The farther away from ourselves and our own
views and possessions that we get, the
harsher and stricter do the judgments usually
become.
It is no coincidence, it has been observed that
the further away enemy
soldiers are from each other, the more intense
do they hate each other. Up close, it is too
easy to see the likeness, common traits,
weaknesses and strengths
that all human beings share.
Just some thoughts.
Best regards,
Amanda.
Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com
DISCLAIMER!
Home | Archive Index | Search the archives | Subscribe
K. List FAQ | Kundalini FAQs | Signs and Symptoms | Awakening Experiences | K. list Polls | Member Essays | Meditations | List Topics | Art Gallery | Cybrary | Sitemap | Email the moderators.
symbol.