Here's a simple yet complex question: What makes us human? What is the basis for 'humanity'? One could argue that morality in its many forms is the driving factor in the birth and evolution of the human race. Every religion has it's moral code that dictates how it's followers should interact with both each other and those outside their belief system. The fight over the Ten Commandments being posted in public areas in the US or the fight over the wearing of Muslim head scarves in Europe all boils down to fundamental issues of morality. Most people that consider themselves Muslim or Christian, to name the worlds two most widely followed religions, depend on their books and leaders to instruct them in their morals and their general sense of what is right or wrong. But why is religion necessary for anybody to adhere to a strong sense of right or wrong? Can't a person who has no religious affiliation or belief about any god manage to live a life in which they harm no one, bring peace and love to the world around them and leave a positive legacy in both the long and short term, both locally and globally? Does one need to read the Ten Commandments to know that killing is wrong? Does a secular world mean a world without morals? To the contrary.
Let me explain my beliefs to underscore this larger picture. I consider myself to be a Brown Earthling, adhering to no religion, race or divisive characteristic. The two things I have in common with every other person on the planet is that we all live on Earth and that we are all various shades of brown. From the whitest albino to the darkest skinned person, they are two opposite ends of the same spectrum, not different kinds of people. In viewing the world this way, everywhere I go I am home and everyone is my neighbor, my brother, my people. This is far from idealistic; rather, it binds me to not just the people of the planet but to the planet itself. I feel no division from others, no separation of class and no feeling that there is a "them"- there is only "us" and we are the human race. To those who think this idealistic and unrealistic, some hippie ideal that springs from the freewheeling 60's, I only ask you to search your own beliefs for what makes you feel different from other people and how that divides you and separates you from "others." I'm just starting from two commonalties that bind me to the world and all the people living in it. After that, each person has the opportunity to prove themselves kind or not and stand as an individual capable of good or evil regardless of what ideology has guided them thus far. The suicide bomber who believes his religion instructs him to kill non-believers is still the one with his or her hands on the wheel. Each individual must choose their path of righteousness; finding reasons NOT to kill others would be a good start.
I offer this thought: the world and its inhabitants are suffering and they are suffering from the divisions that force us to take sides against each other and battle to the death. Take Iraq as a prime example: rather than bonding over their commonalties as Muslims, the Sunnis and the Shiites kill each other mercilessly over their differences. But is it the fault of the people on the street or the leaders who do nothing to stop it and often encourage it? Or both? Those who put themselves in the hands of divisive and hateful leaders subject themselves to control and that control is used to continue this perpetual violence and hatred that consumes large parts of the planets population. Forget about my god versus your god; when you are fighting a battle based on leader versus leader or mullah versus mullah, what are you really accomplishing? And who are you killing? Kill your brother and you are killing yourself. And for what? To prove who is more moral? To prove who is right? Is killing someone for their differences from you either moral or right? I think- I know- not.
I am a songwriter and a few years back, I wrote a song called "Sail Away" in which I tried to condense these feelings into an articulate verse. And it started with the simple fact that everyone believes their particular god will save them and their kind and that all the "others" are damned to an eternity in hell:
"There is no god to save you all.
Your temple is a shopping mall.
Faith is blind and based in fear
of living like we're supposed to here.
Prayers are wishes, not commands.
The books of fiction in your hands
are meant to teach us to divide
ourselves in groups for genocide."
No one believes their god will save everyone on the planet; only "true believers" will ascend to heaven. We focus on our divisions based on books that have been so heavily edited since their inception that their reliability is questioned even by their most ardent followers. To witness this in action, one must only look at the vast number and variety of sects in both Christianity and Islam. The fact that Sunnis and Shiites battle each other at all serves not to illuminate their beliefs but underscore the uncertainty in what their beliefs truly dictate. But whatever their versions of Islam instruct of them, loving and respecting each other seem to have lost their place in the dialog. How sad to see a beautiful people self-destruct with no leader or religious belief that would not just stop the destruction but heal and unify the people. How sad for people to see only what divides them; for to be divided is to be conquered, and don't think those at the top don't realize it. Submitting to division is the first step in losing hope for and sight of what binds us and relinquishing love of brothers for hatred of others. And that is a losing game.
Those who would kill their brothers for any ideal, whether it be religious, nationalistic or race-related, are pawns in a game of control. Whether it be ethnic cleansing in Sudan, sectarian violence in Iraq or Fascism in 20th century Europe, those who succumb to their leaders "morality" and see only lesser "others" have lost their humanity and their true brotherhood. For I don't see others killing others, just brothers killing brothers. And that is not moral in any respect. Heaven is not filled with killers, no matter how convinced they were of their righteousness. But earth is filled with my people, my brothers, Brown Earthlings worldwide who must connect, love and unite- not hate and divide- if we are to not just survive but evolve. If you see all other human beings as your own people, your own race and your own family, you will not be so inclined to kill them. All of the great problems facing this planet, right down to the environment of the planet itself, will not be solved by our divisions. They will only be solved by crossing, blurring and eventually erasing the boundaries that divide us so we can unite for a common cause. One planet, one people. One love, as Bob Marley once sang.
So I offer to you- my fellow Brown Earthling, my brother, my friend- an opportunity. To search within yourself and reject what separates you from others and to look at the bigger picture, a picture of a world in which all people can relate and unite for a common good, for a common purpose and for a common love. A love of humanity and of the planet we live on. A love that unites us in harmony, unveils our hearts, our eyes and our minds of the divisions of the past so we can truly see the promise of the future. If you are to truly love thy brother as you would love yourself, then you must first accept and love yourself one hundred percent. Maybe people don't love themselves enough (or at all) and are misguidedly in search of external fulfillment. A world without hate is not impossible if you love yourself. Release yourself from the divisions of the past and unite yourself with the rest of your people for a common good and common future. And as one of your people- as your brother- I welcome you with open arms and an open heart. I am simply, humbly and happily a human being on planet Earth. And I am ready for all the people of the world to join me in friendship, love and peace. A better world starts with YOU, so welcome to it!