Choosing Sides: Deconstructing a Societal Paradigm

Choosing Sides: Deconstructing a Societal Paradigm      

      We've been tricked... tricked into wholeheartedly participating in the paradigm of "Choosing Sides"!  And, we've been tricked into believing in the myth that winning is a good thing.  In fact, we are so trained to think that winning is a good thing that when I make this statement, it is highly likely that most people will think something like: "Wait, I thought winning IS a good thing", or, "Of course winning is a good thing".  Yet, when we allow ourselves to deconstruct our societal programming, perhaps we will uncover the truer truth that winning is only "good" for some people, and, thus, it is not so good for others.

      The programming runs deep, so please bear with me as I attempt to dismantle some things that many of us typically accept as true.  For example, phrases that many accept as "the way things are" seem highly questionable to many others, such as: "survival of the fittest", "it's a dog-eat-dog world", "might makes right", "every man (sic) for himself", etc.  Though many of us have already evolved beyond this way of thinking, in our quest to deconstruct, we must still acknowledge that these cliches represent a worldview that is unfortunately popular among a vast majority of our population.  Which leads us to that oh so sacred cow that is adored by most "civilized" societies around the world... sports.  

      It would be easy for many to become defensive at this point and say things like: "sports are just innocent fun... lighten up."  So, please allow me to clarify by saying that I do not want to dismantle or deconstruct the necessary need for us to play.  On the contrary, my personal conviction is that playing is one of the most important activities that we humans should be participating in regularly.  However, what we now think of as "sports" is one of the ways that our society has taken a sacred art (namely, the sacred art of playing) and turned it into an agenda of competitive "tribalism".  Which brings us to how we have been tricked into choosing sides: The Atlanta Braves or the Saint Louis Cardinals; the Los Angeles Lakers or the Chicago Bulls; etc. 

      To be fair, it isn't just "sports" that has tricked us into participating in this particular paradigm.  We have also been programmed by so many of our mundane daily choices:  Coke or Pepsi;  Folgers or Maxwell House;  Ford or Chevy;  Nike or New Balance; Mac or Windows; iPhone or Android; etc., and this list could go on for days. Once again, at this point many of you might be thinking "all of this seems somewhat harmless", which from one perspective is valid.  That is, however, unless one is factoring in the ethical business practices (or lack thereof) of each company.  In addition, as my dear friend and mentor, Professor Omid Safi, PhD, recently said to me concerning this topic: "This is essentially what a capitalist system does.  It forces us to make so many seemingly insignificant choices between different products that we have no time left for the truly significant, cosmic matters of the heart and soul."

      The paradigm of choosing sides also seems to be woven into the very fabric of our societal structures, such as religion and nationality, and this is where the paradigm has the potential to become particularly dangerous.  Religion, for example, presents us with a plethora of sides to choose: Hindu or Buddhist; Jewish or Muslim; Taoist or Chrisitan (which can even be divided into multitudinous choices, i.e. Baptist or Methodist, Catholic or Lutheran, etc.).  The paradigm becomes even more dangerous in its culmination... nationalism.  And here in the United States, we even split teams and choose sides within the nation: Democrat or Republican (which is becoming more and more clearly a choice between the "lesser of two evils"), etc.  

      We have been tricked into dividing the human family into "us" verses "them", and we go to war defending "our side".  Many among us watch with cold, indifferent hearts as team "Israel" commits an ongoing, daily mass murder of innocent men, women, children, and babies on a genocidal level, and this is somehow "justifiable" due to particularly disgusting myths, such as the lie that the Israelites are "God's chosen people".  Juxtaposed to this daily display of barbaric injustice, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) said "Do not start a war.  If you must fight, then strike only at those who attacked you.  Do not harm women, children, the elderly, or those retreating in their places of worship.  Do not cut down trees or kill animals."  Many people from this mythic construct we call "the West" are at least somewhat surprised to hear this due to so much Islamophobic indoctrination. 

      So, may we stop participating in the dangerous and destructive paradigm of choosing sides, except in the moments when we must stand for justice. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu so beautifully stated: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." Thus, in the case of injustice and oppression, "staying neutral" is, in fact, "choosing sides"... namely, "the side of the oppressor".  When we take a stand for our sisters and brothers, may it be clear that we are standing indiscriminately for and with those who are being oppressed.  As our government continues to give billions of our tax dollars to team "Israel" while they daily murder our innocent sisters and brothers, may we remember the words of Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) when he said, "Whatever you (plural) do unto the least of these, you have done it to me."  May we learn to deconstruct any and all of the dangerous paradigms and myths that divide us. May we see the truer truth that there is no "us" and "them"... there is only us, and we are one family of sentient beings.   
And may we live in the light of this truer truth where there are no sides to choose... there is only us, and thus, may all of our choices be guided by Love.