The American colonies were founded on the hope that people can be free from persecution for their religious and political beliefs. Those who braved the seas of the Atlantic Ocean wanted to begin life anew, where they would be free to practice their faith and speak freely of their political persuasions.
In the Declaration of Independence, it was proclaimed that:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and or organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.
The Great American Experiment
This Declaration and what it was attempting to create has also been referred to as the Great American Experiment. It was intended to address the possibility that people can learn to share life with one another with empathy, support, compassion and a sense of well-being.
It is really a matter of: Can the good that is within each of us overcome the self-centred, greedy and hurtful aspects of our nature? In short, can our kindness overcome our cruelty, as members of a shared community?
So far, we have overcome some of the negatives, and have created programs that have enabled us to be supportive of one another. We have also been oblivious in our disregard for those about whom we have prejudiced feelings. The verdict is still out as to whether we can treat others as we would want to be treated.
When this Declaration of Independence was written, in 1776, those who wrote it did the best that they could with what they had to work with. In those days, what ‘all men were created equal’ really meant was that all of the landowners with a certain level of financial worth were considered to be equal. African slaves were considered to be property, owned by these landowners to be used to till the tobacco crops. African slave labour was an integral part of the colonial economy.
The colonists’ treatment of the native peoples whose lands they began to inhabit often proved to be a hardship for those who were having to share what, for them, had been their home for centuries. The colonists, in many ways, treated the Native Americans as the conquered and not as equals. The colonists’ literal interpretation of the Bible condoned the mistreatment of these native people, as well as women.
Treating others as inferior
As time passed, the American government began to make agreements with the various Native American tribes that were not kept, and the living conditions, health care and standard of living of the Indigenous people became deplorable. Warfare became a part of the colonial and Native American way of life. So much for all being created equal and treating others with empathy and compassion.
Women’s place in the social scheme of things, during colonial times, was to be the carrier of cultural aspects of their family life from their place of origin. In addition, women took primary responsibility for the household and rearing of children.
Women were not equal to men in the strictest political sense of the word. It was not possible for women to run for political office, nor cast a vote for a political officer, until 1920.
Women’s inequality continued well into the 20th century. A woman could not have her own credit until 1974, as a result of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. In addition, women having equal pay to men wasn’t guaranteed until 2009, and even then, certain loopholes weakened its intent. And women are still battling for their reproductive rights, well into the 21st century.
And so, we see a cycle of behaviours where one group treats another group as inferior. Such treatment of one group as inferior to another group has been a common practice throughout our history. Such behaviour is viewed as an act of violence, where the value of one people is viewed as inferior to that of another people.
How many times has this cycle played itself out in our American way of life, over the past 400 years? How do we introduce mindfulness into this pattern of behaviour where one group treats another group as not being equal?
To begin with, we need to fully understand this cycle of behaviour where one group determines that another group is inferior. We need to understand why it is that people treat another group of people in this way.
Unlearning a learned behaviour
Our thoughts determine our feelings. How we think about something or someone determines how we feel about ourselves, others or a situation that we experience. It has also been said that we learn to hate or to discriminate against others. It is a learned behaviour.
Hermann Hesse wrote, “If you hate a person, you hate something in him (her) that is a part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.”
Believing that a woman or a person with a different skin colour is not equal to ourselves is a learned behaviour. For someone to take on that view of others, that means the person who feels that way has been hurt or made to feel less-than in their own lives. So, these folks transfer their learned sense of themselves onto someone else and scapegoat those with whom they come into contact.
The problem with this behaviour is, as Adyashanti has written, “If we believe in a thought that is at odds with what is true, what was true or what will be true, we will suffer. In essence, we suffer when we lie to ourselves about what is true.”
Love, on the other hand, is something that is present within each of us. As long as our feelings of love are allowed to express themselves, they remain available and free to express.
To bring mindfulness into our approach to life in regard to ourselves and others requires that we bring our awareness into the present moment, without judgment and with compassion. The notion of mindfulness originates from the teachings of the Buddha some 2,600 years ago.
Adyashanti said,
Awareness is that part of us that perceives, observes, and witnesses our thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and body. It can be quite transformative to realize that you are not what you thought you were, that you are not your feelings, that you are not your beliefs, that you are not your personality, that you are not your ego. You are something other than that, something that resides on the inside, at the innermost core of your being. For the moment we are calling that something ‘awareness itself.’
We outwardly project our resentments
What is it that prevents us from bringing ourselves into the present moment? It is how our experiences have impacted us, how we view ourselves and how we feel about ourselves.
Each of us attempts to make sense of our experiences with other people and within our lives. We tend to create storylines that are our attempts to understand where we are in relation to our parents and classmates, as we travel through elementary school, middle school, and high school. We attempt to understand our experiences, our thoughts and feelings as we travel through life.
Within each of us is an inner critic who judges us harshly. According to our inner critic, we are the ones who are responsible for causing others’ upsets and are responsible for our bad feelings about ourselves. Our negativity towards ourselves creates our sense of negativity towards those with whom we come into contact as we travel through life.
Our ruthlessness towards others has its origins in our negativity towards ourselves. Our resentments are projected outward and fixate onto others. And so, our prejudicial ways have their origins, and we all suffer as a result.
Our need is to bring our awareness into the now of our lives. We can no longer live with the hurt from our past or the fears of our future.
We need to see ourselves as not being ‘who we thought we were.’ Our need is to connect with our empathy and compassion towards ourselves, so we can express empathy and compassion towards one another. Treating others as we would like to be treated is a simple path towards reconciling ourselves with ourselves and with one another.
«RELATED READ» EMPATHY MATTERS: 4 insights for dealing with your sensitivity while in contact with others»
image 1 WikiImages from Pixabay 2 Image by elizabethcecil from Pixabay 3 Image by Robert Jones from Pixabay 4 Image by Pexels from Pixabay
