If I can offer you any piece of advice it would be this:
Live now. Life is too damn short to simply wish things were different.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Label Me

what if labels didn't exist?  the concept seems outlandish at first as our categorical brains pine to define EVERYTHING.  we have been cognitively programmed to label people, events, circumstances, actions, things, etc.  and we find ourselves frustrated when the labels we have for someone or something just don't seem to fit.  some labels are brief while some last a bit longer.  sometimes we wish we never had to label at all!  sometimes we don't like our own labels.  the ones we've given ourselves or the ones that have been given to us.  

and yet, we seem to attach ourselves to these labels and grip to them as tightly as we can.  and understandably so.  it's what we've been taught to do after all...  

but what if labels just didn't exist?  what if there were no such thing as "mine" or "yours" or "good" or "bad" or "tall" or "short?"  man, this list could go on and on!!  this concept is actually not so outlandish  if you think about it.  it's actually one of the basic principles of Buddhism.  the reason for eternal suffering is in our attachment to things (labeling: you're "mine," i'm "yours," etc).  we label ourselves and our possessions as just that....possessions.  and our things, along with ourselves, become off limits to an entire word around us.  we become off limits to the very world we were meant to explore in all its greatness and all of it's purity.  all of our greatness and all of our purity.  we've been labeled "off limits" when all we really want is the freedom to explore just how unlimited we can really be.    

what if labels didn't exist?

1 comment:

  1. I love it!

    If we remove labels, we rid ourselves of some expectations...those we are held to, and those we hold others to.
    Without lables, your love would not have to be confined, or forced...your relationships could reach their full potential because there would be no restrictions, walls, or limitations. It would be interesting, to say the least.
    Beyond that, we may also be more giving and understanding...maybe it would also eliminate a huge portion of jealousy...
    Hmmm....
    very intersting, Mollikins!

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