“We experience ourselves our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.” ― Albert Einstein
Whats in a label? A cursory glance at current and past events in our history is enough to prove that our obsession over labels has shaped it. Thousands of wars have been fought over it and several million lives have been lost for its sake. The most infamous example would be the genocide of Jews by Hitler.The complicated reality of millions of conscious agents were reduced to a single label and exterminated. Such oversimplified conceptions of complex human beings capable of thought and action are still prevalent.Our obsession with labels still remains a pressing issue in our everyday affairs. So why do we need it? How does it relate to reality? Why do we make such a fuss about it? I'm no psychologist or sociologist to discuss it elaborately or give a scholarly account. However, I want to share some of my thoughts and speculate on how it would benefit us if we expand our identities to include the whole of humanity. It is not an idea rooted in fantasy. Our current scientific model on human evolution suggests that all the human beings alive today in all parts of the world are descendants of a small group of humans who lived in Africa some 70,000 years ago. This is nothing ground breaking in this suggestion in that the idea of evolution argues that all life on earth shares common ancestry.
Developmental psychologists have stressed the importance of identity formation in each individual across life span. Some theorists have identified stages in the development of identities characterized by specific conflicts and resolution. Erik Erikson's famous model is one example. In its essence, identity is an abstract conception of self and non-self. While the individual psychological and social conceptions of self are inter-twined, these remain distinct to some extent. For any individual, identities are multi-layered and varied. Some of our identities are acquired such as professional identities and some are inherited such as regional identities. Personal and social identities work in myriad ways and are often dynamic and relative.
It is important to question what the various identities signify and its relation to reality? Identities based on region may signify common cultural values, shared ancestry and history, similar customs, similar languages, etc., But how people decide on their affiliation to a region is a vague issue. It is often relative and doesn't seem to arise from a strong principle. We ourselves often express affiliation to more than one region depending on the context. To someone from another country we would say we are from this and that country. To someone from within the country we may refer to the state from where we come. So depending on the context we expand or shrink our regional affiliations down to the streets in which we live. At least in the present, our countries and states are divided in to ever smaller territories mainly for administrative purposes. The cultural values are not that different from one region to another. More than based on any ground reality our regional affiliations are based on personal choice and belief. The countless immigrants to the various countries may agree with this. Whenever we are using labels to classify human beings, we need to remember we are oversimplifying. My beliefs and values are much more different from my neighbor than it is with someone from another part of the world. How can people wrap anyone under a label and discriminate them. It is not only absurd but dangerous.
Contrary to this viewpoint, there is the idea of narrative selves. Some believe that a narrative self is a fundamental part of the self that is formed from our experiences and memories that are unique to each individual. We know that our relationships are more than just labels. May be it is like falling in love where we try to integrate the other self into our own being. It could be argued that even today in this globalized world, the majority of people live their lives in a single place and their experiences and memories of this place gets integrated into their selves and out of this flows their regional affiliations. At times we over emphasize our identities and get lost in it. Looking beyond regional identities is nothing new when it comes to sports, music, arts, literature, science or humanities. Most of us acknowledge virtues in people regardless of their identities. Why do we fail to acknowledge this at times of conflict?
Identities based on religion may signify a shared belief in one particular conception of god and also perhaps in a way of life. In a country like India, religious identities have the power to galvanize even a culturally and linguistically diverse group. Several political groups play on it to their benefit.
It is too complicated a subject to discuss here without digressing a lot.The basic message of most religions and spiritual traditions is the cultivation of love and compassion and the importance of recognizing the oneness of humanity. But often the important messages are buried under religious identities and the struggle to preserve it.
Professional identities has been recognized as an integral part of the development of our personal identity. This has to do with the roles we perform in the society. Across lifespan, we perform several roles and our professional identities too evolve. It is by nature dynamic and we mostly recognize it. However, there is also the discrimination of people based on profession which creates a trap especially for those in some stigmatized professions.
We have the tendency to emphasize our identities based on region, religion and ideas especially when there is a conflict. It is tempting to argue for this in an evolutionary sense. We know that several animals show territorial behavior and often get into conflict with competitors. And we being animals share that instinct. It is true that we have aggressive tendencies and when in conflict this seems to get expressed in most of us. However much of modern civilization rests on the establishment of judicial systems that tries to offer impartial justice. Historically and even in modern times, justice breaks down in times of war and conflict.
John Rawls, a theorist of justice, argues that justice is possible only when the law makers work under a veil of ignorance. When people enter the veil of ignorance, they have no knowledge of their ethnic origin, religion, economic status, caste, profession and kinship. Essentially they are stripped of all their identities. Rawls argues that when this happens, we can hope to make impartial laws. However, this is possible only hypothetically. Hence his famous argument that justice is possible only under a hypothetical contract. If we take this hypothetical stance and analyze contemporary issues, it often simplifies complicated scenarios and makes the violence associated with those conflicts absurd.
For example, the Mullaiperiyar row if formulated in this stance will look something like this. Some people residing in the dam's neighborhood are worried about its safety and hence want the construction of a new dam. And some people are against the construction of a new dam as they fear losing control of a resource that sustains agriculture, hence food and livelihoods in several areas thereby affecting several million people. What is the solution? I'm sure that an impartial judge would look at the situation this way.
Once we bring in the identities of people in conflict, it becomes more than an issue for justice. The recent violence in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is an example of what conflicts based on regional identities could create.
We need to learn to look beyond the various labels and see the complicated reality of a living human being. When in conflict, we need to look beyond our identities and affirm what is just. In many cases of complicated real life situations, what is right may not be obvious. But we should be worried only about resolving what is right and wrong and not dousing the fires of violence that arise due to these conflicts. Martin Luther King nailed it when he said "Judge a man by the content of his character and actions and not by the color of his skin" during the civil rights movement. We need to extend that statement to include other identities based on region, religion, ideologies, sexual orientation and so many other categories.
We are all transient beings individually and our seemingly unchanging identities too evolve with generations. There is no denying that identities are personally very important and an integral part of our self. However, the effects of our actions live longer than us. Hence there may be wisdom in basing our actions on principles larger than those defined by our limited identities. The current scientific model on human evolution proposes that humanity was in the brink of extinction some 70,000 years ago. Thanks to the spirit and courage of a very small number of people, humans now occupy every corner of the globe and are exploring the whole universe. Despite our differences in way we look, in the way we conduct our lives, in what we believe, we are one big family. Science and spirituality are both pointing in the same direction. It is important to acknowledge that.
Whats in a label? A cursory glance at current and past events in our history is enough to prove that our obsession over labels has shaped it. Thousands of wars have been fought over it and several million lives have been lost for its sake. The most infamous example would be the genocide of Jews by Hitler.The complicated reality of millions of conscious agents were reduced to a single label and exterminated. Such oversimplified conceptions of complex human beings capable of thought and action are still prevalent.Our obsession with labels still remains a pressing issue in our everyday affairs. So why do we need it? How does it relate to reality? Why do we make such a fuss about it? I'm no psychologist or sociologist to discuss it elaborately or give a scholarly account. However, I want to share some of my thoughts and speculate on how it would benefit us if we expand our identities to include the whole of humanity. It is not an idea rooted in fantasy. Our current scientific model on human evolution suggests that all the human beings alive today in all parts of the world are descendants of a small group of humans who lived in Africa some 70,000 years ago. This is nothing ground breaking in this suggestion in that the idea of evolution argues that all life on earth shares common ancestry.
Developmental psychologists have stressed the importance of identity formation in each individual across life span. Some theorists have identified stages in the development of identities characterized by specific conflicts and resolution. Erik Erikson's famous model is one example. In its essence, identity is an abstract conception of self and non-self. While the individual psychological and social conceptions of self are inter-twined, these remain distinct to some extent. For any individual, identities are multi-layered and varied. Some of our identities are acquired such as professional identities and some are inherited such as regional identities. Personal and social identities work in myriad ways and are often dynamic and relative.
It is important to question what the various identities signify and its relation to reality? Identities based on region may signify common cultural values, shared ancestry and history, similar customs, similar languages, etc., But how people decide on their affiliation to a region is a vague issue. It is often relative and doesn't seem to arise from a strong principle. We ourselves often express affiliation to more than one region depending on the context. To someone from another country we would say we are from this and that country. To someone from within the country we may refer to the state from where we come. So depending on the context we expand or shrink our regional affiliations down to the streets in which we live. At least in the present, our countries and states are divided in to ever smaller territories mainly for administrative purposes. The cultural values are not that different from one region to another. More than based on any ground reality our regional affiliations are based on personal choice and belief. The countless immigrants to the various countries may agree with this. Whenever we are using labels to classify human beings, we need to remember we are oversimplifying. My beliefs and values are much more different from my neighbor than it is with someone from another part of the world. How can people wrap anyone under a label and discriminate them. It is not only absurd but dangerous.
Contrary to this viewpoint, there is the idea of narrative selves. Some believe that a narrative self is a fundamental part of the self that is formed from our experiences and memories that are unique to each individual. We know that our relationships are more than just labels. May be it is like falling in love where we try to integrate the other self into our own being. It could be argued that even today in this globalized world, the majority of people live their lives in a single place and their experiences and memories of this place gets integrated into their selves and out of this flows their regional affiliations. At times we over emphasize our identities and get lost in it. Looking beyond regional identities is nothing new when it comes to sports, music, arts, literature, science or humanities. Most of us acknowledge virtues in people regardless of their identities. Why do we fail to acknowledge this at times of conflict?
Identities based on religion may signify a shared belief in one particular conception of god and also perhaps in a way of life. In a country like India, religious identities have the power to galvanize even a culturally and linguistically diverse group. Several political groups play on it to their benefit.
It is too complicated a subject to discuss here without digressing a lot.The basic message of most religions and spiritual traditions is the cultivation of love and compassion and the importance of recognizing the oneness of humanity. But often the important messages are buried under religious identities and the struggle to preserve it.
Professional identities has been recognized as an integral part of the development of our personal identity. This has to do with the roles we perform in the society. Across lifespan, we perform several roles and our professional identities too evolve. It is by nature dynamic and we mostly recognize it. However, there is also the discrimination of people based on profession which creates a trap especially for those in some stigmatized professions.
We have the tendency to emphasize our identities based on region, religion and ideas especially when there is a conflict. It is tempting to argue for this in an evolutionary sense. We know that several animals show territorial behavior and often get into conflict with competitors. And we being animals share that instinct. It is true that we have aggressive tendencies and when in conflict this seems to get expressed in most of us. However much of modern civilization rests on the establishment of judicial systems that tries to offer impartial justice. Historically and even in modern times, justice breaks down in times of war and conflict.
John Rawls, a theorist of justice, argues that justice is possible only when the law makers work under a veil of ignorance. When people enter the veil of ignorance, they have no knowledge of their ethnic origin, religion, economic status, caste, profession and kinship. Essentially they are stripped of all their identities. Rawls argues that when this happens, we can hope to make impartial laws. However, this is possible only hypothetically. Hence his famous argument that justice is possible only under a hypothetical contract. If we take this hypothetical stance and analyze contemporary issues, it often simplifies complicated scenarios and makes the violence associated with those conflicts absurd.
For example, the Mullaiperiyar row if formulated in this stance will look something like this. Some people residing in the dam's neighborhood are worried about its safety and hence want the construction of a new dam. And some people are against the construction of a new dam as they fear losing control of a resource that sustains agriculture, hence food and livelihoods in several areas thereby affecting several million people. What is the solution? I'm sure that an impartial judge would look at the situation this way.
Once we bring in the identities of people in conflict, it becomes more than an issue for justice. The recent violence in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is an example of what conflicts based on regional identities could create.
We need to learn to look beyond the various labels and see the complicated reality of a living human being. When in conflict, we need to look beyond our identities and affirm what is just. In many cases of complicated real life situations, what is right may not be obvious. But we should be worried only about resolving what is right and wrong and not dousing the fires of violence that arise due to these conflicts. Martin Luther King nailed it when he said "Judge a man by the content of his character and actions and not by the color of his skin" during the civil rights movement. We need to extend that statement to include other identities based on region, religion, ideologies, sexual orientation and so many other categories.
We are all transient beings individually and our seemingly unchanging identities too evolve with generations. There is no denying that identities are personally very important and an integral part of our self. However, the effects of our actions live longer than us. Hence there may be wisdom in basing our actions on principles larger than those defined by our limited identities. The current scientific model on human evolution proposes that humanity was in the brink of extinction some 70,000 years ago. Thanks to the spirit and courage of a very small number of people, humans now occupy every corner of the globe and are exploring the whole universe. Despite our differences in way we look, in the way we conduct our lives, in what we believe, we are one big family. Science and spirituality are both pointing in the same direction. It is important to acknowledge that.
