How your identity makes the world a worse place.

I can’t help but feel that I entered, 20 minutes into this movie and there’s something I’m missing. The only way I can make these words work for me, is to view an identity as a wrong-headed approach that isolates ourselves from the rest of the universe, instead of looking at each of us as being connected. That we are a whole lot more alike than we are different. That these ideological differences and shouts across the red/blue divide, is nothing more than an earlier pain or upset rising to the surface and getting in the way.

I know this to be true, but not from what you’re saying. I also know that saying it alone, doesn’t always lead to a resolution. Example: I’ve sat through a number of motivational speakers in my time and felt a sort of high afterwards — for about an hour. Then reality and its gravitational forces returned. Don’t get me wrong, having that relief, even for just an hour was cool. But seeing the “darkness” of doubt and self-invalidation returning was an eerie sight.

Zat, I love what you have to say, and I am really glad that you’re saying it. You prompt dialogue and engage the wheels of innovation.

I favor a more pragmatic approach though to remedying life’s travails. Perhaps a more scientific or methodical approach. But that’s just me.

I don’t accept the concept of a hate spiral or that evil is a construct that occurs after the deed is done. Evil draws its power from the intention of the individual. From conscious thought, framing actions in a way designed to wreak havoc. I don’t believe that evil is native to all beings, but is acquired. For some it comes more easily than others. And once acquired, it’s owned, just like a gun, ready to do damage.