The human mind is programmed for union and yet we are constantly thinking in terms of exclusion and separation. I don’t know if this is a socially created thought-pattern or if it serves some biological function, but either way it is disturbing. Whenever I have asked my master: ”What is right; this or that?” he has given me one of his gentle smiles, shaken his head, making the grey curls bounce, and answered: ”Jenny, it is not either or but as well as…”

Perhaps we are obsessed with categorizing in order to make it easier for the mind to download data for evaluating the object in front of us? Making a risk analysis so that we know how to approach it and maybe this was crucial in the dawn of human civilization? But as spiritual seekers, we must become aware of that the obsession with  is a mind-game and break free from it. I was helping my friend to open a Facebook-account yesterday and was somewhat surprised to see that one could choose to categorize oneself as male, female or other (?). This is interesting as one of the most disturbing things for us humans is when we cannot identify the sex of another person. But indeed, why not?

Equally disturbed are we when we cannot clearly determine if a person is good or bad, because we badly want to know if we’re dealing with a hero or a thief. What I have found here in India is that people tend to label others as good or bad quicker and sometimes it seems based on cobwebbed morale. Is a person to be categorized as good if he is sober and a person as bad if he’s a drinker? Does a person become good because he is seen praying and the person who is not is less of a better person? But what if the thoughts in the praying man are really dark and the drunkard’s really pure? Personally, I don’t believe in good versus bad, because it’s all about intention and circumstance. A deed is just a deed, nothing more nothing less. Labeling ourselves and our fellow humans serves no one but is fire wood to the ego and maintains the illusion of separation from oneness.

Hence, it is not good or bad but good as well as bad… it’s not yogi or a banker but yogi as well as a banker… ”are you getting me?” ;) We should always choose to include instead of exclude. Always aim to be more rather than less and once again I would like to refer to Kierkegaard, who so wisely stated that when you name something you remove the possibilities of it being all the other things.

The flying fish probably doesn’t ponder over how come it can fly and swim. It just does it. The ostrich isn't grumpy because God gave it wings but made it unable to fly (divine error?) and the bumble-bee has not yet been told that according to science and the law of gravity it shouldn’t be able to fly at all, considering its weight. Be as much and as many things as you can! Thrive, knowing that your divine spirit through this human experience allows you to be it all, have it all and live it all.

Jenny Wickman                                                                                                                  
Naturopath & Yoga Teacher                                                                               
www.jennywickman.com