We are All Equals

While having an informal chat with a friend from the training fraternity, Mr. Maaney Paul, he shared a thought provoking concept called the human layers. It made me reflect a little deeper on those thoughts.

 

Human being can be primarily divided into three layers – the physical layer, the mental layer and the spiritual layer.

 

The first layer is the physical layer. This is about our physical appearance, our material comforts and the social status we enjoy thereby. The physical layer differentiates us from one person to another. It either makes one feels superior or inferior to another. Very often, we describe a person by his physical attributes. We say a short, fat man with a bald head or a dark girl with squint eyes, so on and so forth. This description of our self may not be so comfortable, but that is how the world looks at us. Another component of the physical layer is our material status, in terms of the car we own, the house we live in and our life style. A man tries to establish his supremacy, in this world through his material status. The ego plays a very strong part in this layer.  If you look at it more deeply, you will realize that this desire has been there with us right from our childhood days. As kids we wanted to possess the best toys and wanted to show off to our friends, our newly acquired belongings. We used to take pride in our material possessions.  Is it not? Having grown up as adults, the game has not stopped. The game is the same, but only the toys have changed; instead of toy cars we have real  cars, instead of the plastic building blocks we own real buildings, instead of those battery operated toys we now like to possess the most modern electronic gadgets like laptop, mobile phone etc.

 

The second layer is our mental layer. The mental layer is not only about acquiring knowledge, but exhibiting our intelligence.  We learned and earned a number of degrees and proudly added them beside our name in our business cards, to prove that we were one among the elite few. It gave us a great sense of pride, to call ourselves as an educated person. We like to be branded as intellectuals, think tanks, and master minds. We gain a great sense of satisfaction, winning an intellectual argument and take pride in exhibiting our knowledge, even while discussing with friends and family members.

 

Our tendency to dominate others either physically or mentally always prevails.  It is absolutely OK to desire to be rich, to desire a nice life style, to want to look more attractive, to become more knowledgeable, etc. The problem comes only when we say, I want to be richer than so and so….. or I want to prove someone, that I am greater than him in such and such a way. When in the name of comparison, we degrade somebody, we are committing a great human sin.  There is no need to look at somebody as an inferior in order to feel that we are superior.

 

The third layer is the spiritual layer. It is at this layer that we realize our true inner self. There is no tendency to dominate or masking our true identity. Here is where we come in contact with our source and realize that we are no bigger than anybody else. In this layer, we are no different from a beggar on the street or a madman in asylum. It is the same soul. Every soul experiences the same feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement, depression, fear, pain, anger, jealousy and so on. When we come to realize ourselves at this layer, our ego drops and we realize that we are a part of the whole and we have a responsibility to treat everyone as equals.

 

It is good to often remind ourselves in this layer. Maybe in our daily prayer.  In a state of total surrender to our creator, let us remember this beautiful quote, “Once the game is over the king and the pawn goes to the same box”. We are born equals and we will die as equals. So when we live, let us respect each human being, for what they are and not for whom they are.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com