Unless you have spent the last few years buried in an avalanche,
you may have noticed that few things going on in our world today make sense. At
least if you consider yourself a sensible person. The question that hangs in
the air is simply, why?
To understand the big picture requires a focus on human
nature itself. Rather than striving to find common ground between ourselves,
humans seem determined to be "right" above all else. As soon as we
identify that someone thinks differently than we do, the tendency can be to end
further communication and look for more "like minded" people with
whom we can connect.
The past several years, (while neglecting this blog), has
been spent trying to understand why our world is so divided on ideological
lines. The need to be absolutely right on every issue is a pervasive trap that can
infect our psyches to the point that a simple disagreement on "how" things should
be done births the emotion of hatred for anyone with a differing opinion.
If it comes, the end of the world will be the result of
this irrational hatred manipulated by those who wish to use that hatred in their
quest for control and power. Perhaps the people of the world have become too
weary to see what is right in front of us or perhaps, we have become too conditioned
by being able to listen to only those opinions that agree with ours that we
abdicate our ability to think for ourselves.
The need of our collective societies has never been greater
to rediscover the common bond that unites each and every one of us. That bond is simply called "humanity". Our struggles as individuals are
ubiquitous, beginning with the need of survival and the need to find purpose in
our lives.
If we fail as people to discover that each of us has more in
common than not, we surrender any chance we have of working together to find
solutions to the dogma of hatred that is destroying everything we hold dear.
Hatred is a powerful emotion that makes us susceptible to
manipulation by those who value power over the common good. There is no shortage
of people willing to use our emotions for their own gain and simply being aware
of the predatory nature of those willing to sacrifice common good to enhance
their power allows us to dissect the real meaning of their message.
In the coming new year, may we all take off the blinder of
hatred so we can see each other, regardless of ideology, as united more often
than divided. Perhaps, this is an unrealistic idea but if we don't, the end
result will not be something any of us want to face.
