It is said in some circles to look for the similarities instead of the differences. We all are a part of the problem. One thing we all have in common is ignorance. We all suffer greatly from the plague of ignorance, regardless of creed, color, religion, status or ethnicity; You are ignorant. Your life and the experiences of that life have left the residue of bias to shape and guide your judgement. To believe that your viewpoint makes up the whole truth is a sign of an adolescent consciousness. Ignorance is dismissing information or knowledge that isn’t within experience of the individual. What you see is your truth, but not the whole truth.

There is an old story about a boy and his grandfather watching goldfish swim in a pond the Grandfather says, “how many goldfish are there?”  His grandson answers, “twelve”  the Grandfather then asks,”How many worlds?” The Grandson puzzled responds, “One?” To which his grandfather corrects, “No. There are 12.”  In 2018 there were 7,594,270,356 people on earth, that means that there are over seven and a half billion versions of one world. One person can never contain the entire truth of existence.

A nasty side effect of ignorance is that it is a restraint upon intellectual advancement. How ego sensitive and defensive we have become as a species. We are completely intolerant to any form of discontent, discomfort, dis-ease. A person might say “I don’t like how it feels to be wrong…Aha! I have found a solution, I am never wrong. ” It is so easy to support ignorant thinking, being open to see another’s point of view is extremely hard. Finding common ground even though it is  uncomfortable is what will change this world. We don’t need one person to be “right” because it is impossible to be “right” if it creates a division. Truth is not singular and it cannot be divided, truth is whole. Right can only ever be truth if it unifies. Unity comes from empathy, compassion, listening and understanding. From the words of The Living Gita, it is written, to understand we must stand under. It does not say stand over, assert dominance, disregard inconvenient truths, judge one another, beat down the opponent, argue until submission. We are all so ego sensitive. Ego and ignorance will bring humanity to its knees and we are all guilty of our own ignorance. I can not liberate you of your own ignorance, but I can awaken from mine. 

We as humans have evolved because of our incredible brain power. Our brains are so complex that we must birth our young before reaching full brain development because if not it would take up to 25 years of being in utero to be born with a fully developed brain. I find it ironic that it is because of our capacity for intelligence that we were able to advance as a species. We put our collective intelligence together to create the world as we know it. It is also because of this collective intellectual ignorance that will cause the fall of mankind. The isolating power of ignorance. Our intelligence brought with it the ability to think and choose. Now it is our intelligence that has allowed us the opportunity to choose ignorance. Ignorance is what will kill the smartest species on Earth. Human Beings– So smart that we are stupid.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.

Albert Einstein

Ignorance is the only sin. We are all ignorant in our own way. Why? Ignorance is bliss. Awareness of the suffering of ourselves and others is uncomfortable, terrifying and overwhelming. So we retreat to ignorance to protect us from truth. Hiding in the safety of our own bias. 

There are many ways that we are collectively contributing to the fall of mankind. We are all ignorant in one way or another. Whether it is regarding physical health of the people, the environment, spiritual, religious and cultural extinction, colonization of indigenous people, missing and murdered indigenous woman, social trauma, genocide,poverty, water and food shortages, global warming, disease, wage gaps, gender inequality, LBGTQI+ rights, race, privilege, social injustice, militarization of police force, criminalization, institutionalization, untreated PTSD due to stigma among law enforcement and first responders,corruption and greed, fake news, fear mongering by press and government, rising suicide rates, declining life expectancy etc. Of course these are not all of the problems facing mankind, because I too am ignorant, I don’t know. We need everyone with lived experience to be a part of the conversation. No discussions about us, without us. In the day of information we are most likely the most misinformed in all of history. We need the perspective of everyone to solve the problem. First we must stand under and listen. Don’t take it personally if you don’t agree dont focus on why you don’t agree, instead validate, empathize and steer the conversation towards talking about how we can start meeting the needs of life on Earth.

“Instead of putting others in their place, put yourself in their place.”

Amish Proverb

Another similarity that we all have in common is that we all want to be happy. We all want happiness because of our predisposition to suffering. To be human is to know suffering. There is not one person who does not know suffering in one form or another. It is simple; to return to peace in the world we must find it first within ourselves. How? By practicing compassion, kindness and forgiveness these are the keys to peace and happiness. That’s it. It is that simple. Compassion is an endangered component of human nature, if we fail to resurrect compassion, then we are endangering humanity and with it mankind.

Penicillin was discovered by a lab technician, Alexander Fleming, who returned from a two-week vacation to find that a mold had developed on an accidentally contaminated staphylococcus culture plate. Upon examination of the mold, he noticed that the culture prevented the growth of staphylococci. Nature cured aberrant nature; human nature must cure the aberrant aspects of human nature. Just like penicillin the cure is simple and overlooked. Compassion is the penicillin of our time.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

Dalai Lama

In conclusion, check your ignorance. Where are your blind spots? If it makes you uncomfortable or defensive then it is a good indicator of an area in your life that requires the application of compassion, kindness or forgiveness.