What is it that makes man want to label everything? Like that oft repeated cliche says, would a rose not smell as sweet were it called by a different name? Why then must we first stick a label on everything we find around us, and then go on to defend that label as if it preceded the thing it represents? Did the name come before the object it stands for? Did the belief come before the person believing it? The best argument against this wholly man made concept of beliefs and culture is that there are so many different cultures. What works for one man may not for another, and so came about all these varied ways of looking at the same world around us. As soon as we are out of the womb, the people around us we so fondly call our family starts labelling us, with the label changing according to the prevailing beliefs. So an infant sucking on his thumb, and living on his mother's breast milk has already his name, his religion, his eating habits, his sensitivities and right down to the style of underwear he wears chosen for him before he has uttered his first comprehensible sentence in that prechosen mother tongue of his. In some cultures, if this infant turns out to be a 'she' rather than a 'he', then she faces discrimination for no fault of hers. She is labelled a 'burden', and her burdened caretakers are already hatching plots to get rid of her.
Even man's defense of his culture, his pride in its veracity and supremacy over that of his neighbours fails to stand upto scrutiny. Some people tout their culture as being supreme or marvellous because it is so old or is so steepled in history. Considering the fact that every culture, language, tradition, belief, custom etc etc were all brand spanking new at one time or the other, that every iota of history that we have proof of today was at one time non-existent, when people decry modern influences for corrupting their cultures, one feels compelled to ask these protesters: Were these cultures also not evolved from the ones preceding them? Then why does nooone bemoan the loss of those ancient belief systems that preceded the ones we have today? This makes for a very interesting observation, that culture is not and cannot be defined by those who came before us, but one may see where our culture is headed by looking at those who lead us into tomorrow.
All this stems from that eternal search for one's soul, one's identity. I personally find this to be quite the wild goose chase, because i truly believe that there is no such thing as a blueprint for humanity. Each of us sets out from a different lane of the race track, each endowed with different abilities, dreams, fears and so on. The fact lies unstated that though we all seem to be running towards the same destination, the journeys we all take to reach there are so different that trying to find parallels is an exercise in vain. Hence the point of a common identity, and thereby a reason to bond with our neighbour is quite fruitless. In this journey though each of us goes through so many of the same experiences, each is influenced so uniquely that we all end up as different as snowflakes; they look the same from a distance, but when you look closer, each one a marvel in itself. We must stop looking at ourselves as fixed entities, like mud pots, that have been cast in a certain way and are to remain so for eternity, and see ourselves more like wet clay, that can and is continously moulded according to the prevailing forces in the world around us. Those people who lament the loss of byzantine, magnificient cultures must wake up to this reality, that the only thing constant in life is change, and that embracing this simple but revealing truth could help us achieve mental peace.
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