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?