Are we all equal?

Yes, we are all equal. We all have the same opportunity to be what ever we want to be, because beingness has nothing to do with any human traits. Only when we identify ourselves with being human, do we have limitations and experience differences.

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May your awareness be perfection

Is every being, then, equal?

Equal yes, not the same.

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May your awareness be perfection

If we are not all the same, what measure is used? Or are we equal merely by being equally living?

Circle,
With all due respect, if you wish to discuss the equality (or inequality) of humankind, wouldn't it have been better to have started a Topic and stated your own beliefs, why you believe as you do, offer any evidence to support those beliefs (including - of course - precisely what criteria you use to judge whether a given person is "superior" or "inferior"), rather than to ask if others believe in the equality of humankind, and then to question their beliefs, and further to expect them to explain, justify, and defend those beliefs...?

In other words: Shouldn't the slipper be on the other foot?


Peace, Love, & Light

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"An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the colour of the object. "
Patanjali - Sutra 4:17

Dear Circle,

I think you ask very valid questions and I enjoy the opportunity to stretch my mind into places I have not wandered yet : )

The "measure" used is desire. That is why Maslow's theory is so valid.

I for myself desired to know God, so for the last 19 years I have devoted my entire life to the "study" of God. Who is God, where is God, what is God and who is mankind in relationship to God? There is not one day that went by without me doing something to work toward that goal.

A doctor wants to experience himself/herself as a doctor, he/she goes through a process that he believes he must go through to reach that goal.

In any case, if you were to have the same desire as I and did what I did, you would be where I am. Because we all equal in the opportunity to experience beingness.

__________________
May your awareness be perfection

I didn't intend for the thread to be about my opinion. My questions, as far as I can tell, are critical but not overly biased. Of course, you've already heard me voice some of my opinions-- that's what I hoped to avoid for the moment. I will get more honest answers if I allow others to respond to the topic rather than to my opinion. I'll inject my own ideas once others have had the same opportunity; that way, I approach the topic from equal footing rather than from my current perch as inquisitor.

Additionally, I structured my initial post in accordance with what appears to be the custom around here-- Lightkeeper's posts, in particular, open with an outside quote followed by an open-ended question.

Exactly..... what measure, indeed?

Can people have differences without a value judgement being placed on those differences?


I think we're all a part of the whole..... and only the ego, in its limited awareness wants to analyze and judge everything.

Nevertheless, some people certainly are better at things that others. Some people are smarter than others (or, to make it more scientific and easily evaluated, some people do, say, algebra problems more quickly and accurately than others). There's no denying that, on a small scale at least, differences-- including value differences-- exist. Perhaps they all even out in the end, or don't have anything to do with the overall value of a person-- but they exist.

This is largely relative: the less valuable a person is to another (or to what the second person considers important, such as his community or the advancement of his causes), the less valuable that person appears to be in general. Perhaps the person considers the other to be "incompatible" with him rather than "inferior" or "not useful."

I judge music that appeals to me to be "better"-- however, I don't presume that this would hold true from every person's perspective.

I admit that it is very difficult and often harmful to judge others in comparison with oneself. However, certain people can certainly be more or less useful, harmful, or interesting to me than others, and I'm capable of making a rough judgment of how useful, harmful, or interesting they are to others.

There are plenty of measures that can be used-- how capable a person is of surviving hardship, how much a person gives or takes from the world, how successful a person is at achieving his/her own goals, etc. Even so, perhaps the final verdict-- the actual value of a person-- must be avoided.