Because we don’t know ourselves. Because we haven’t gotten to the core of who we are, we identify ourselves with labels. We don’t necessarily know the definition of the labels. We don’t necessarily know the extent of their meaning, but they give us something to hold onto. They give us a way to identify ourselves in this huge mass of humanity.
Now the fact that these labels don’t have apparent meaning and are interpreted different ways by different people doesn’t stop us. We kind of need them.
It was said in the eleventh century that Sufism used to be a way of being, a state of being, not a philosophy. Now it’s a philosophy without a state of being. This is the part about labels. Just because I label myself something doesn’t mean anything. It just means I have chosen a label. In he world there are some pretty evident contradictions with these labels that, if you really look, become incredibly confusing. People call themselves Hindus. Believe that Krishna walked the world as God. If you walk into a Hindu temple, you may see representations of Krishna, either in paintings or in statues. In Christianity people believe that Jesus walked the world as God. If you walk into a Catholic church, you may see pictures and/or statues of Jesus. Yet, Christians will tell you with ardor, with vehemence that they are not Hindus. And Hindus will tell you the same thing as to Chrisitiianity. They are not Christians. Now I am sure that somebody other than me must have noticed this before today. It just seems interesting to me how different those of us in the world perceive these two religions yet at the core, there is this immense similarity.
So, what is it about us that needs to define ourselves? What is it about us that needs to grasp on to something? Where does it come from? How does it come about?
We all come into the world through a mother and a father. We have a very close relationship in our formative years with our parents. It is said that which you learn as a child is like writing on stone and that which you learn later in life is like writing on water. So there is something about the fact that that which we are brought into has an effect on us much later in life, and a very strong effect…
