Are You Your Label?

Job titles/designations perhaps came into being to help identify the nature of job-related responsibilities or areas of speciality. Look what they have come to mean to us today and how they are being used. Ever felt that you needed to move up the corporate ladder and get that job title, before which you just wouldn't be happy?

Have you ever stopped to notice how often we fall for labels, either self made or tailor-made for us? Do we ever stop to consider how vulnerable we allow ourselves to remain? If we accept these are merely labels why do we so easily identify with them, often to an extent that we become them? What's making us so stupid? Who are we, really, if not our labels?

Ever notice how parents spare no effort in picking a name for their newborns? Ever look and see how much importance you give to your name? Your name is just a collection of alphabets, nothing more, yet you behave as though it has global implications, or at the very least, it has a special meaning. you attach a relevance to it. Why? You could change your name a million times and you would still be you. So you are clearly not your name. Nor are you the fancy job title/designation you fought to hard to get.

Your personality is influenced by (and so changes) the knowledge you imbibe every second. It is not constant. Your mind is constantly changing and with every breath you take, every step you make, your body is changing. That's not constant too. You are not your personality, mind nor body, because regardless of how many times your personality, mind and body changes (they are changing even as you reading this) you are still --- you!

The same goes for religion. You could change your religion a million times but you would still be -- you. So you are not your religion too. Isn't it strange how important these labels are to us and what we are made to do or are willing to do in order to protect these labels?

Here's a funny story that I read somewhere.

A man was waking through a lonely alley late one evening in Belfast and suddenly felt the cold hard barrel of a gun pressing against the nape of his neck. "Catholic or protestant?" asked the voice behind him. Filled with fear, he knew some smart and quick thinking was called for here. "Jew" he said.

"I must be the luckiest Arab in Belfast," came the reply.

Here's another funny story.

There was a man who went to the parish priest saying he wanted to sponsor a mass for his dearly beloved dog that passed away.

The parish priest was taken aback by the strange request and a bit annoyed too at the man's audacity. "Well, the church does not say masses for animals," he told the man. "Go find some other way to pray for your dead dog."

"Oh, but I loved my dog so much, I wanted to pay a million dollars for the mass," said the man. "Wait, a minute," said the priest. "You didn't tell me your dog was Catholic."

See? What value do labels have to the real - You? Or who is the "I"? It is the observer who is observing these labels. Make no mistake, the "I" is none of these labels. Anytime "I" identifies with any of these labels, suffering begins.

If the "I" identifies with the body, then sickness brings suffering, if not, it doesn't. Sickness remains the body's headache, not yours. If the "I" identifies with money, name, nationality, person or thing, then that becomes your jailer and tormentor. When the "I" does not identify with the label, there is no fear, no suffering.

Look around you and see how many people are slave to these labels. They are restless if they can't have that branded handbag, or that luxury car, or that large posh office, or their picture in the local social magazine. Look how people in the armed forces will kill their fellow human being just for that Purple Heart or golden star or whatever metallic object it is they pin to your chest, to stoke your ego and/or sell you the stupid idea of patriotism.

If you open your eyes, you will see the clear difference between the "I" and the labels on sale. That "seeing" itself will become your liberation and no amount of fancy job titles or any labels will enslave you. You will be free to perform your duties, spend your money, live your life happily without being conned by these labels and by extension, avoid every bit of suffering.

Tear up your labels and escape to freedom

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