I’ve been told to keep it simple since it will then appeal to more people. Probably; but easier said… Sorting thru spaghetti's not easy.
Some have said “life is like a box of chocolates”; the implication that we’re all different and random things can happen. For starters though, we may be as different as no two snowflakes are alike, but we’re all snowflakes. We’re all of the same specie and we all share certain human nature universals. The day we’re born there is no significant difference other than on face value. What happens after that is purely a result of our conditioning. It’s a matter of input which was different throughout the world because of local customs, beliefs and influences that, some believe, make us into life’s different chocolates.
But it’s different than chocolates when there’s no connection between the pieces other than their covering. I would rather look at life like pasta y fagioli with the understanding that the beans and pasta having different identities are no different as components in the whole soup, or a bowl of spaghetti. (Reminds me of the SNL John Belushi routine depending where you are how March comes in a like Lion. But I think you get the point.) They’re different, but without them, there’s no soup. But because there are separate components, we can separate the issues and see how the affects overlay each other.
It’s the interconnectivity of our human nature universals with religion and traditions, and their values on top of behaviors, customs, beliefs and actions, that have been instilled in our lives in about almost all of us, which have influenced our decisions and, consequently, our lives. Whew! And worse yet, some of these behaviors are repeated and taken for granted because we know of no others. We are not individually as much in control of our lives when we have an obstacle course of preconditioning to traverse that either favors some more beneficially than others and we’re left with simply to accept the adage---“that’s life”. But it doesn’t have to be the perpetuation of these traditions and injustices which also affect our own decisions and destinies directly and indirectly. We’re not talking predestination here; but there has become to some degree, a betterment of odds depending on the cards with which we’re dealt. We are all raised with different opportunities and conditioning, and we are making decisions which affect some adversely more than others based on that criteria.
Example: for white people it was never an issue to be considered different; unless of course you were catholic (tongue in cheek). But for a black person---to this day there are those that believe they are not equal human beings. Otherwise, why are they chained and dragged behind trucks, or defiled with bathroom plungers, hung from trees, and other atrocities; not to mention socially disadvantaged? They weren’t singled out because of politics. Now that’s just an obvious result of conditioning. Blacks are just niggers, they ain’t even real people. Jews are blood suckin apes, Palistinians are nothin’ but animals and radical islam arabs are killers. The essence of pretty crude stuff we hear about when the truth is that; without our clothes on, the day we’re born, there’s no difference between anybody other than skin color. More examples: A Jew invented the theory of relativity; Silicon Valley has looked like India, the president of the U.S. is a dark skinned man called an African American. But there are more subtle examples of conditioning. Anybody who says “because” without knowing the because, probably has flies. Anybody who says “god bless you” after a sneeze, has flies. We’re creatures of habit. To a colonialist, there’s no other way.
We are great students and learners, but also victims of our teacher’s training; particularly when we are saturated from birth with a particular train of thought. Indulge the following if you can leave your flies alone: If you lived 3000 years ago would you believe in one god---or which one? If you were born in India what’s the likelihood you would be so enthralled with Christ. If you were raised from birth without hearing about snow---would you be able to describe it firsthand if someone asked? Would you be upset if someone were serving you cow’s intestines for dinner? How about if they told you your child was a witch and had to be put to death? Or that the sex organs of little girls have to be altered. Or the possibility of when you die, you really don’t, but live eternally somewhere else. Or if I told you there’s an invisible dragon living in my garage, would you believe me? You’ll just have to trust me on that one. Yet, there are always stories and reasons within the community for these beliefs. These are the components of a particular culture. Get the point? If you can get past the obstacles to the concept, that we are all programmable accessible with certain behavioral universals, born with no preconceived notions, but are influenced by our sensory input, then we can proceed to understanding---what have our brains been loaded with? But if you continue to believe in a particular story, understanding that the story, itself, is not universal, without being open to another view but merely defend your story---then your flies are pretty big and influential in your life. You don’t have as much control over your life as you think. For some, it’s like living in a straight jacket without knowing it. Like being blind because one didn’t know there was an operation to cure the blindness.
Can there be any grain of truth here? If there is---perhaps there’s more to it. Many discount statements out of hand when on first blush they appear contrary to our flies. It could be that at those times these flies or disturbing thoughts deserve a little closer look. You might ask, how big are my flies, or what can I do about them?
Part of the answer to that is, do your flies affect your way of life in a significant way? I.e. are you obsessive about them such that you have rituals that interfere with your life or have your rituals become a way of life? Do your flies make you do things that, with a little introspect, would reveal that you treat others unfairly? You may not think so because unwittingly your flies make you do it. But are you infringing on another’s human rights or believing that your universals are superior to theirs? Hence, your way of life is superior and be damned the rest? And was it by choice or opportunity? And by the way, you’re compelled to change everyone else to believe your story, your flies. You might even be asking; I’ve done well enough, why should I care about my flies? But unselfishly, you should. The problem is that your flies aren’t alone in this world. There are others, and because of population growth and technological advancements, the world is becoming too small for our flies not to play nicely with each other. Some flies are belligerent and malevolent to our well being. The people who have to deal with these issues are our children. Like the Age of Discovery and the Age of Enlightenment; we’re entering a new phase for the world; The Age of Interconnectivity; which allows little room for flies.
No Flies
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