Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches had bellies with stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches had none upon thars.
Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small You might think such thing wouldn’t matter at all.
But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches Would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.” With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort “We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!” And, whenever they met some, when they were out walking, They’d hike right on past them without even talking. Dr. Seuss
I’ve been thinking about the Sneetches…
As the story goes, the Star-Bell Sneetches thought they were better than the Plain-Belly Sneetches, for no other reason than the fact that (obviously) the former were born with a start in their belly, while the formers were not.
Isn’t that silly? What was their merit in getting those stars? Wasn’t it only the result of chance? Why would those Sneetches feel proud about something in which they had nothing to do? Moreover, the star provided no kind of biological advantage, in was basically a birthmark, still, the Star-Belly Sneetches were convinced that it meant something, some sort of god-granted distinction. Strangely enough, it seems like human beings are not different.
Why do human beings make distinctions, classifications and separations? Black, red, white… Christian, Buddhist, Mormons… Mexican, American, German, Chinese… Libra, Virgo, Scorpio, Leo… Endomorph, ectomorph… Narcissistic, Border-line, ADHD… High class, middle class, low class… Male, female, queer… I could go on an on an on…
It seems to me that at a certain level, our brain needs to classify and categorize reality. Perhaps that is the way we make sense of it. Just as each of our brains will work hard in order to develop a story of our lives that makes sense to us, just as a computer needs categories to organize information, I guess our brains are programmed to classify.
I can certainly see the use and benefit of it and I can see how, depending on our level of reality, we can get fixated at any point. If I am an astrologer, I’ll see people in terms of Zodiac signs, if I am a marketer, I see them as potential buyers, if I am a missionary I’ll catalog people as converts, potential converts and infidels, if I am a psychologist I might see people in terms of DSM categories. As the adage goes, when a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees are his pockets.
I would like to argue (and I actually believe) that at the end we are all human beings and even beyond that, living beings and even beyond (all that exists) drops of the same ocean. If I see colors is because I am fixated in colors, if I see neurosis, is because I am fixated in psychological profiles, if I see star-bellies, most probably I am a Sneetch. However, I can clearly see how that can become an argument for “spiritual by-passing” I believe that a truly spiritual being, can see through all such fixation, don’t get entangled by them; and at the same time be complete able to appreciate where other people are fixated, respectfully acknowledge it and engage them at that level.
One cannot/should not force somebody to a different level of awareness. Each person must climb that “ladder” by him/herself, and the best testimony that a person has really dealt with any given rung of the ladder; is real (as opposed to self-righteous) understanding and compassion to those still in that rung. If the attitude is that of contempt, criticism or condemnation toward those that “can’t go past that issue” or “can’t move forward and leave the past behind” clearly the rung has not been fully explored and in all probability is being by-passed completely. The fact is that we are all human beings, part (or sons and daughters) of god and, seen through that glass we are all equal; likewise, we all come from different traditions, ideologies and background, and through that glass, all diverse. As the Spanish poet Ramon De Campoamor, wrote more than a hundred years ago, In this world without a clue, nothing’s false and nothing true: all is colored by the hue of the glass one’s looking through.
So how does the Sneetches story ends? Let us conclude with the tale’s final lines:
And he [Sylvester McMonkey McBean]laughed as he drove In his car up the beach, They never will learn. No. You can’t Teach a Sneetch!
But McBean was quite wrong. I’m quite happy to say. That the Sneetches got really quite smart on that day. The day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches. And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches. That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars and whether they had one, or not, upon thars.
If Sneetches can learn, we humans still have hope. But then again, what do I know…
