Lots of black and white thinking in the world

meditation comic

I admit it. I used to think of things in terms of black and white. It is either something or it’s not. However there are lots of shades of grey, and in time you learn this.

This is not an opinion it is fact. For example, women and men have complicated genetic biological makeup. When people try to make things simple, it is because they are either ignorant or dishonest and both are not helpful.

I don’t know the truth. Nothing I say here is the truth. I am just trying to research and not perpetuate lies. We should be very careful in saying something is a certain way. Rarely are things as they appear. Things that intuitively make sense often are false and not helpful.

For example, one of the things that you might hear from someone is that if we ignore people’s skin color then racism will stop. Makes sense right? The problem that I have understood is that racism isn’t just in how someone looks, but also where they live, how they are treated by their name, and so on. We treat others sometimes unconsciously racist so even if we think we are consciously fair people, we still contribute to the problem.

It isn’t enough to have good intentions. We also need social policies that don’t depend on people’s goodwill and help people who need it. We need to stop looking at things as one-offs and start seeing the larger picture of what they are.

I am convinced that we see things in the way that benefits us and to hell with everyone else. We like to feel good thinking that we are kind or help others when in truth we hurt others more by our inaction than our meager actions. Life requires a bold response to challenges and are we making the world a better place?

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