Height, weight, race, gender, hair color, eye color, hair length, clothes, address….these are all classified or observed on a simple American driver’s license. Our society is accustomed to these categorizations…and we typically take quick inventory of people that we meet to determine their classifications. And sometimes to determine if they “belong” or not. But do any of these classifications even matter?
If someone changes any of these factors, does it really change who they are?? I say no :)
There is a Zen koan that asks, “What is your original face? Before your mother and father were born?” Like all koans, the purpose is to meditate deeply until the answer comes to you. I won’t take that experience away from you by adding my commentary ;)
The point for me is that all of these classifications are distractions. They keep us from true understanding. The same is true for broader classifications…Animal, vegetable, mineral…they prevent us from seeing that we come from the same Source. We are just stardust….why can’t we just see each other’s shine? :)
I had a wonderful time recently with beautiful children that I help tutor, and they gave me a new line, “Selena…I don’t sweat, I glisten!” Then I was like, “I don’t just exist, I shimmer!” I got crickets, but it was funny to me haha
We get caught up so much in illusions that we fail to recognize the thread that unites us all. Like the walls and dead ends of a maze, these distractions exist to make the puzzle more interesting. As others help us to realize what’s real, our path becomes illuminated. And we begin to drop our silly classifications. When all is light, we are no longer caught up in forms. ;)
Photo source: Anatomy of a leaf by A Sot
Inspiration for photo selection: Awesome capture. Looks like an aerial view of a city to me ;)