Our Dogma of Unity

In our modern era we define ourselves through our consumption more than what anything else. We see ourselves through what we do and what we have rather than what is underneath. We improve our bodies as another external expression of what we are, similar to the way we dress in specific outfits to showcase our belonging to certain subcultures and ingroups. We are blind without the mirror that is socialisation. Based on the reaction and perception of others, we find meaning and identity in our actions and belongings. We're becoming more and more obsessed with finding out who we are, and spend more time than ever looking anywhere but within. We are moving away from our preconceptions of what it means to be human, what it means to be a man, a woman, what boundaries exist regarding sexuality and social constructs. No longer can you say that being human means to have a set of limbs and organs without excluding those with prosthetics and artificial implants. One would not dare say a man with a pacemaker is less of a human, and one would not say a man who loses an arm is less of a man for it. We see these notions as barbaric and simple, we know better now, we are educated after all. And still we argue over matters of similarity. Upon birth we are classified as boy or girl, and our lives are already set on a path we are expected to follow. Sure, our society offers a wider birth nowadays, but we are still expected to conform, and consequently we judge those who fail to adhere to our societal rules. When a girl wants to play with cars instead of dolls, and prefers her hair cut short and practical, we are perplexed. Does she not know that she is a woman? Why doesn't she get it? Even if we allow some leniency we expect her to come around at some point and settle into her proper role. Hypocrites as we are, we allow ourselves to explore the magnitude of experiences life has to offer, in search for our identity, but only within what we regard as normal. We celebrate diversity and encourage curiosity, but we still have our walls, and no matter how vast and inclusive our conceptualisation of existence is, we still feel threatened once these walls are challenged.

In our feeble defence we often argue that change is unnatural, that it is inhuman. It is one of the oldest and most widely applicable argument in human history, for it is perfectly vague and nonsensical while still explicitly addressing the feeling of unease we encounter when our view on life is challenged. It is an argument and an emotion we curiously find in most cultures, and it is perhaps one of the few things that unifies us all. You could say it is at the root of all conflict, as overcoming any argument requires one daring to admit the possibility of seeing things differently. But as we still perceive arguments as conflicts where one must lose, we strive to be the victor, and cling to this ancient argument, and in masses we enforce it's valiance. We allow ourselves to become stagnant fools, condemning others for their way of life because we feel acknowledging it will undermine our own understanding of existence. We believe our way of life is righteous because we followed a path we were presented with, a path society encouraged, one where meaningfulness and prosperity was promised. But what is life as we know it if not a slap in the face of our ancestors? We claim we are still human, we claim our way of life is natural, but I doubt our ancestors would deem it natural to sit inside, staring at a screen all day, only to go for an hour long run in a manufactured park in the middle of a concrete jungle, before slouching on a sofa for a few hours while again staring at a glowing screen.

What separates mankind from all other beings is how we have taken control of our own evolution. We are the masters of our existence, subject to nothing but our own fears and limitations. As a society we develop more quickly than ever, and we have the power to direct this change wherever we want. The problem is, we don't want change. We want to master what is, not subject ourselves to what could be. The past is definite, it is understandable, and through understanding it we can master our present, but the future, the future is uncertain, it is daunting. We fear change because we don't know how to control it. Quite simply, we fear freedom, for freedom cannot be chained. In defining our understanding of the world, we are also excluding and condemning those who are different, those who do not fit our definition. Humanity celebrates unity, but as of today, only through conformity. If history has taught us anything, it is that humanity and diversity go hand in hand, and that the further we develop, the more diverse we get. Pretending otherwise is nothing but selfish and detrimental to our fellowship. We need to come to terms with this fear of ours, no matter how deep it is. We need to accept that the truth about life, the universe and everything, is absolute and that we have yet to fully see it. What we have are opinions, fragments of understanding. Some fragments are held by most, some by but a few. Instead of condemning those few who hold their own fragments of truth, we need to shed light on their understanding and devote ourselves to accepting their way of life, their truth, and make it our own. As a society we owe it to ourselves to accept a wider understanding of the world, specifically of matters concerning our immediate existence, like what does really manhood and womanhood entail? Can a man love a man? Can a woman love more than one man? Is marriage the only path? Can you have a second family? Can friends hold hands? Can sex be frivolous? Only by truly celebrating and accepting diversity, will we all, as one people, rejoice.