Why Is There Racism?

Racism has its root in the fear of the other. It is all about fear. Fear brings about division and separation. When there is no fear, there is loving kindness and connectedness, and hence humanity is experienced as one.

Transcript

Many people are racists,

Still,

Even nowadays.

Racism is not limited to any particular group,

Although people of African origin probably are most often at the receiving end of it.

Racism is a disease that affects the whole of humankind.

So why does it exist?

Where does it come from?

People tend to mistrust or hold prejudices against anybody.

That is,

Anybody who seems different in any way.

Primarily when someone looks different or speaks differently or behaves in unfamiliar ways,

But also when they have another creed,

Follow unfamiliar patterns,

Customs,

Dress differently,

Have a different sexual orientation,

Or even simply like different foods.

At certain times and at certain places,

Segregation along racial lines was enforced and laws were passed to uphold it.

People were reprimanded.

You must not associate with those who look differently.

You must not befriend or pass your time with those different from you.

You must not sit and eat together with those from another background.

You must not pray with those of another creed.

You must not marry outside of your caste,

Your religion,

Your tribe,

Your group,

Et cetera.

Unfortunately,

Some of this is still going on and causes endless misery.

While it might occasionally be possible for people belonging to a disrespected minority to blend in with the majority,

Thus to become,

As it were,

Invisible,

It requires of them to hide or deny some trace of their identity.

The price they pay might be one of psychological suffering.

But even this works only as long as those traits themselves are mostly invisible.

You can hide your creed,

Keep your background or family history secret,

Your customs private,

Abstain from preparing or eating certain foods,

But the one thing one cannot dissimulate is skin color.

This is the reason why racism relating to skin color is the worst and the most enduring prejudice and the one most difficult to eradicate.

Racial prejudice of that kind remains the single most important and most disturbing factor separating people.

It is,

However,

Possible to overcome racism.

Racism is an attitude.

It is based on conditioning.

What conditioning has brought about can be undone.

What upbringing and education have produced,

A different upbringing and a more enlightened education can undo.

Hence,

Parents and teachers play an enormous role in overcoming racism.

What is thought and thought?

Feld said and believed that home and in school is a major influence on all of us,

Starting from our earliest moments until the end of our lives.

It affects us profoundly,

Much of it subconsciously,

And it usually keeps lingering on in the background.

Therefore,

It is in the hands of parents and of teachers to change the world.

Actually,

We are fortunate that to a certain extent this is happening already.

For example,

It helps when children of diverse backgrounds are brought together,

Starting from an early age.

In a natural and playful way,

A natural environment,

They get acquainted with each other,

They perceive their sameness rather than their difference,

And later they won't need to lose the fear of the other because they haven't got any.

But to truly eradicate racism and to bring about a lasting change,

A profound transformation,

One has to go even more deeply into the human psyche.

Fundamentally,

As we have mentioned,

The problem is one of conditioning.

But why are we conditioned?

When does the conditioning start?

What are its roots?

Of course,

Parents,

Teachers,

Other siblings,

And figures of authority in society,

Representing societal customs and norms,

Such as holders of public office and preachers,

Leave their imprint on children.

They endow them with their own fears and prejudices.

It is precisely those fears that need to be addressed and changed.

These are the fears we need to outgrow collectively.

They're embedded right there at the center of societal exchange,

In the collective psyche of any society and of the whole of humankind.

If people are not aware of these fears,

They cannot free themselves from them.

Then the fears keep dwelling up at unforeseen moments,

And they sustain and propagate themselves.

In a way,

They're like viruses.

They replicate through those who harbor them.

Only one who is free from fear can set an example of inner freedom.

The primordial fear,

The fear from which all other fears originate,

Is fear of the other.

Those who have it,

Who are possessed by it,

I would say,

Just pass it on,

Often unwittingly,

Ignorantly.

They might even think that they mean well.

Therefore,

It is so important to alleviate fear of the other at its very root.

Fear of the other manifests in various guises as racism,

Xenophobia,

Homophobia,

Islamophobia,

Antisemitism,

And so on.

And we see that they're not mutually exclusive.

Members of one persecuted group might still persecute members of another group.

How can we stop this?

How can we overcome this vicious circle?

Fear of the other is something buried deeply inside the human psyche.

Fear is at the root of the ego.

The ego defines itself by fear.

Fear divides.

Fear implies separation.

The ego maintains itself by separation.

It divides and rules.

The ego says,

This is I.

That is not I.

The ego sees itself as different from others,

From the rest of the world.

That's the dream of the waking state.

To perceive an inside and an outside.

I and not I.

This is also the root of all evil.

Possessiveness,

Jealousy,

Envy,

Hatred,

Revenge,

Murder.

Separation is only possible where there is the perception of another.

The very existence of the other is prerequisite to the existence of the ego.

The ego draws its justification from the existence of the other.

It needs to create the other in order to justify itself.

If we see only one,

If there is no other,

There cannot be an ego.

Ramana Maharshi reminded us of this fact with the simple words,

There is no other.

The great sage Kabir stated,

Behold the one,

It is the two that leads you astray.

There is only self,

Not myself and yourself and their self,

But self.

And self is all encompassing.

So racism is not just a mental or psychological disease,

But also the symptom of an even deeper underlying unease,

A spiritual sickness as it were.

The illusion of separateness manifesting as the human ego and its desire to maintain itself.

In Christianity,

They have a great image for this,

Which I ever failed to be understood mostly.

It's the fall from paradise.

Living in a world of separateness,

One is living in a fallen world.

Therefore,

Ultimately,

Racial prejudice can lastingly be removed only when we realize,

And I mean sense,

Feel,

Inquire passionately into this,

And at last know with every fiber of our being that there is only one humanity.

Not as a mere thought or a theory,

But as a living knowledge when we know that human consciousness is one.

Then there is no place for separation,

No place for discrimination,

No place for segregation.

What is there then is compassion,

The passionate realization of our interconnectedness at every level,

Which makes us act for the benefit of all human beings at all times in favor of the whole of humankind.

Sometimes,

When people progress in spiritual development and gain deep self-knowledge,

Which is the same,

They begin to realize that consciousness is a continuum.

It goes on.

Sometimes they remember.

They begin to understand that the continuity of consciousness means that consciousness flows from one body to another,

From one time to another,

From one place to another.

In fact,

That all of these are mere illusions.

There is only the one consciousness.

When they remember that they have been,

For lack of a better word,

Incarnated before,

That they have had numerous reincarnations,

Experiences in physical bodies,

That is,

That they have lived in other bodies before,

Have been brown,

Black,

White,

Yellow,

Red,

Short,

Tall,

Have been women,

Have been men,

Have been straight,

Have been gay,

Have lived in other countries,

On other continents,

Have held different religious beliefs,

Have been believers and non-believers,

And so on,

Then they lose the feeling of strangeness and unfamiliarity,

Of separateness from each other.

Then they know that all human beings are alike.

A crack has appeared in their psychological armor,

In that hardened shell,

That straight jacket of the ego.

Through that crack,

That vulnerability,

That perceived imperfection,

The grace of God,

The light can get in.

Yes,

Whites have been blacks,

Blacks have been whites,

Indians have been Chinese,

Chinese have been Indians,

And so on.

The very existence of racism,

Especially the conviction of any kind of racial superiority,

Is an indicator that urgent issues still need to be sorted out within the psyche of humankind.

If we were to behold what unites us instead of focusing on what divides us,

Racism had no more chance,

Where there is no fear,

Only love can grow.

Therefore it is by cultivating loving kindness that we dispel the shadows and allow the light of awakening to fill our minds and hearts.