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Labels, in and of themselves, are neither good nor bad. They are pointers, and, when properly used, can help us navigate the world and communicate with one another. When we use them to name cities and streets, they help us get from one place to another. When we use them to name menu items, they help us order the correct meal.<\/p>\n
However, labels can be used\u2014and often are\u2014in such a way so as to limit what something or someone is and is not. That is, they are often used as nouns rather than as adjectives, as if the label is the essence of what someone is, rather than a mere pointer. Regarding this, Soren Kierkegaard warned, \u201cOnce you label me, you negate me.\u201d This seems especially true in today\u2019s world. Republican. Democrat. Independent. Libertarian. Socialist. Christian. Buddhist<\/a>. Tall. Short. Fat. Skinny. And on and on it goes . . . labels used to negate who we truly are as \u201chuman.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019ve grown so accustomed to seeing one another as nothing but a label that we\u2019ve essentially dehumanized them in the process. And our culture has suffered because of it. We are at a point and time in history that we\u2019re doing nothing but yelling at \u201cthe other side,\u201d whatever that other side may happen to be. And what has that done for us other than create scapegoats? Nothing good that I can think of.<\/p>\n But again, there is nothing wrong with using our pointers, so long as we realize the pointer isn\u2019t the real thing. I live in Chico, California but realize the written form\u2014C-H-I-C-O-C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A\u2014isn\u2019t the actual city. Likewise, I call myself a \u201cChristian\u201d (on most days)\u2014even though some of my interlocutors would vehemently disagree\u2014but realize that a \u201cChristian\u201d isn\u2019t a real thing. It only points to something else. In other words, it\u2019s an adjective that points at the noun, a describer that points at the \u201cis-ness\u201d of the real thing, the how<\/em> of life rather than the what<\/em> in life. Buddhist teacher Noah Rasheta offers the following analogy<\/a>:<\/p>\n The reality is that no matter how hard I try, I can\u2019t \u201cbe\u201d a Buddhist, or a Christian, or an anything, because those aren\u2019t \u201cthings\u201d to be. We already are something; we\u2019re human. When we learn to view our own labels and perhaps more importantly, the labels we assign to others as adjectives instead of nouns, it will be like talking to someone and realizing that \u201cI am wearing a blue shirt\u201d and \u201cyou are wearing a red shirt\u201d but the color of our shirts doesn\u2019t make us who we are, it\u2019s just part of how we are right now at this specific moment of being human.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If we started using our labels in this manner, we would likely begin to see one another in a strikingly different way. I\u2019ll go so far as to say that we would start seeing each other, not as the labels we attach to them\u2014labels that tend to divide and separate\u2014but as fellow human beings, all a part of one big family. And I\u2019m guessing our approach to those who happen to wear different colored shirts would be wrought with empathy and compassion. In essence, it would be a new \u201cway\u201d of seeing and being.<\/p>\n Both Jesus and the Buddha emphasized a new way of seeing. And while each had their own cultural context and used different language to describe this \u201cway,\u201d both stressed the importance of non-grasping (the path of liberation from suffering in Buddhism) and of emptying one\u2019s self (the kenotic path from Philippians 2:7<\/a>). This would include not grasping at the labels we tend to describe ourselves and others with. It\u2019s a form of non-judgment, something Jesus iterated on numerous occasions (see Matthew 7:1\u20135<\/a>; Luke 6:37\u201342<\/a>).<\/p>\n Of course, many of my fellow Christians would retort and suggest that it is of vital importance to describe Jesus Christ with the right labels. After all, our eternal fate hinges on this, or so we\u2019re told. I guess the only thing I have to say about such a thing these days is that people in this frame of mind need to grow up. I don\u2019t say that flippantly or as a slight of any kind. We all need to grow up. That is a huge part of what it means to have this human experience. Babies are not born with all the tools they need to flourish in life. They need to grow up. Likewise, religious thinking and the labels we grasp at are all a part of the process of eventually coming to a place where we transcend such things.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, it doesn\u2019t really matter what labels we use to describe ourselves. Sure, it\u2019s important to carry around a map in order to familiarize yourself with the terrain. But at some point, you won\u2019t need the map any longer. When the Fellowship gets far enough down the Anduin River, they don\u2019t continue to carry their canoes across the plains of Rohan. They leave them behind and recognize they are no longer needed. To that end, if you call yourself a Christian, or a Buddhist, or a Liberal, or a Conservative, that\u2019s fine. Just realize that true transcendence involves moving past such labels to the real essence of what we are. We are human. We are one. And though we all come from different traditions, cultures, religions, and the like, we are, at our core, something much, much more.<\/p>\n Peace.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labels, in and of themselves, are neither good nor bad. They are pointers, and, when properly used, can help us navigate the world and communicate with one another. When we use them to name cities and streets, they help us get from one place to another. When we use them to name menu items, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2874,"featured_media":1894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,40],"tags":[454,17,478,475,469],"class_list":["post-1888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mysticism","category-religion","tag-buddhism","tag-jesus","tag-kenosis","tag-labels","tag-non-grasping"],"yoast_head":"\n