As soon as something is labeled it is imprisoned. When something or someone is labeled, it restricts its ability to be anything other than its label. Our minds see the world dualistically where most everything is either one or the other. Light vs. dark, good vs. evil, and so on. Our minds have difficulty comprehending non-duality where something or someone can be both good and bad and not just one or the other. By labeling something as "bad" we no longer allow ourselves to see that thing as "good" at all, we simply see "bad". Bad simply cannot exist without good; they go together. They are in fact one and the same.
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” - Exodus 3:14
God cannot be labeled, God cannot be defined, God cannot be put into a box. God doesn't label itself; it simply says I AM. As soon as a label is put onto God, that label negates all "opposing" labels and therefore negates half of God, therefor God simply says I AM the I AM. Even giving God a name is labeling God. The word God means something different to every person. Many of us believe that we are worshipping the same God within the same religion, but we are biased in our perspective and belief. No two people worship the same God. I spoke of this topic in a three-part series in earlier posts. Linked here: God - Part One, God - Part Two, & God - Part Three.
We do the same thing to others in labeling them. We label someone as "cruel", and we can no longer see any niceness within them. We label someone as "selfish", and we can no longer see any selflessness within them. We label someone as a "man", and they are no longer allowed to have any "feminine" characteristics. We label someone as "old", and they are no longer allowed to have any childlike qualities. We label someone a "sinner", and we no longer see any good they do, only the "evil". We label someone as a "saint", and they can do no wrong in our eyes. If someone does something that offends us or that we don't agree with, we simply label them as "mean" or some other label and refuse to look any deeper. We write them off in our minds, but when we write someone off in the external world, we are ignoring that part within ourselves. Everyone in the external world is representative of an internal aspect within us.
Think of it in this way, most of us dream while we sleep, whether we remember our dreams or not is irrelevant. When we dream, we dream of other people, could be people we know or have met, or it could be people that we aren't even aware of. Those people in our dreams represent an aspect within ourselves in which our unconscious is trying to show us. The majority of us just pass our dreams off as non-sense when in reality, our dreams can be a bridge to a deeper understanding of ourselves. What motivates us, what drives us, and why we do what we do. When we dream of people, they are a projection of our mind. The people in our dreams aren't the actual manifestation of that person physically into our mind. Could you imagine if we were all being physically transported into each other's minds every night, pure chaos.
Our waking life works in the same way our dream life works. In waking life, sometimes people appear physically but more often than not, they appear within our thoughts or our mind the same as in dreams. People within our waking life appear in order to show us aspects within ourselves just the same as in dreaming life. When we dismiss our dreams, we miss out on allowing ourselves to grow, evolve, and learn more about ourselves. When we dismiss others in our waking life, we are ignoring those parts of ourselves in which those people remind us of that we don't like. If we have some cruelty within us but claim to be nice, caring, and good people, we are likely to refuse to acknowledge the cruelty within. When someone appears in our life as cruel, we simply ignore them and write them off in order to not be forced to acknowledge the cruelty within ourselves.
When we label another, we become justified in writing them off within our minds. It is no longer about not being willing to look at that aspect within us, but simply putting the blame on them feeling justified about it. If we have no cruelty within us, then witnessing another who is cruel they would have no effect on us whatsoever, it is only when we have cruelty within, that we judge the cruelty in others. When we interact with others who remind us of the qualities within ourselves that we like and that we are willing to look at, we want to keep them around and we can't seem to get enough of them.
We all imprison ourselves by labeling ourselves. We call ourselves "stupid" and can no longer see anything intelligent we do that proves otherwise. We call ourselves "moral" and "just" and fail to see the cruelty and oppression we place on others. We call ourselves "poor" and are blind to how wealthy we really are. We call ourselves "fair" and "impartial" and refuse to acknowledge just how biased we really are. We believe that we are "right" which means anyone who doesn't agree with us is "wrong". We fail to see that we are both sides and neither side on all of the labels. We wouldn't know we were "stupid" unless we were smart. We wouldn't know we were "moral" and "just" unless we were capable of cruelty and oppression. We wouldn't have a concept of "poor" unless we were wealthy. We wouldn't have any comprehension of being "fair" and "impartial" unless we were already biased. We would be incapable to perceive being "right" unless we were wrong.
For one day, pay attention to how often you label people, including yourself throughout your day. Our minds do it all the time, most of which we are unaware of. Someone cuts you off while you're driving and your mind thinks something along the lines of "what an asshole", that's a label. Would you change your opinion if you discovered it was a nun rushing to be at the bedside of a dying priest who devoted his life to the betterment of humanity? Would you still think they were an asshole? By calling them an asshole, you no longer allow yourself to see anything other than an asshole. We make a mistake and think to ourselves "I'm so stupid" or "I'm such a screwup" and don't allow ourselves to see any accomplishments we achieved.
How many of us have thoughts about ourselves that seem to just go on repeat all day like a broken record? "I'm not good enough", "no one likes me", "I'm so stupid", "I can't do anything right", "I'm such an asshole". These are all ways that we label ourselves. We also have the repeating labels about others too that seem to go on without end. For one day just be aware of these labels. You don't have to do anything about them. You don't have to stop them or change them. You don't have to feel bad about having them, since we all have them. You don't have to do anything. Just be aware of them, that is all. Love and Peace!
How do we know the light? By knowing the darkness. How do we know ourselves? By knowing others. How do we know life? By knowing death.