Emay's Page

I am about to attempt to explain why I am here. It is my own personal view. I understand that others will have very different and equally significant views of why Inclusion is important.

Also, it is a rambling semi-scientific and semi-philosophical essay. If you really want to know what makes me tick, read on. I am revealing a piece of myself here that I usually do not discuss.

My own view is, Inclusion is not merely a human idea.

It seems like a human idea when you look at the obvious: if you look at every evolved creature that is at the same stage as we are, then we are certainly the first in our “evolutionary generation” to achieve what we are achieving now. Inclusion means that we have graduated from the animal kingdom instinct (to prove ourselves better and stronger than others within our species, for reproductive and evolutionary purposes) and we are now at a new stage of development, where working together is more productive than working apart (creating better, safer reproduction and higher evolution). But we are not the first or last living creature to think in this manner.

A long time ago, single-celled organisms discovered that it was safer, easier, and better to all join together in a social network SO connected that they cannot live without each other. They decided to cling to that network and make it as high-performing as possible so that everyone in the network would benefit. They found the right cells for the right jobs and they stuck with that idea, probably for millennia (and think about how many generations that is for single celled organisms). Finally, they found a method that worked, and all the other Kingdoms of Life were born. Plants, animals, fungus – every organic thing we can see and feel with our own senses is based on the fact that some very simple blocks of life decided to stop competing with each other and create something bigger than themselves.

Are we creating a higher evolutionary life form? Perhaps that’s a bit grandiose. Even if we are, it would take millennia, and it’s equally possible that we could destroy ourselves first. But even if we’re not, it is clear our efforts towards Inclusion brings Humanity to a more highly-evolved state; at minimum a state of being that accepts that it is better to work together than work apart.

And the idea can be scary. It's not the sci-fi aspect of it (A mere 100 years is the difference between "ridiculous" and "common knowledge" in any given time period. So there's no point in judging something by how weird it may sound).

But the idea of losing individual identity, perhaps becoming a hive mind, does bother me. I feel instinctively rebellious against this concept - and instinct is the key word here. As an animal, it is only natural that we strive to achieve personal identity to separate us from those around us - it is part of our neverending power struggle for "leadership in the pack." Most (all?) animals do this to some degree. So perhaps my feelings of loss is merely an outdated and unecessary instinct at this time?

Perhaps my new mindset should be, "how can I do something extraordinary, not to make MYSELF more unique and identified, but to make the whole a better, stronger WHOLE?"

And besides, for me to rebel against the idea of possibly losing identity is rather hypocritical! What does one of my skin cells think of being part of a higher life form? I highly doubt the skin cell knows I exist. The skin cell probably has some form of identity within it's smaller network of the billions of other skin cells on my left knuckle or whatever. It certainly wouldn't notice a loss of identity. Maybe we're already just a small part of a higher life form - how and when would we ever be aware of it, outside of perhaps religious perspectives?

So nitpicking about a feeling of loss of identity is hardly an issue. I only mention it because if you're reading this then you may have had the same initial reaction to the concept that I had.

It's tricky. There's a lot to manage between being all-inclusive, and welcoming/identifying the traits within each other that make us all different. We want to be proud of who we are, and we need to understand that who we are is a small part of the whole. Defining these two mindsets helps us to overcome the minor conflicts that result when the mindsets are conflicting.

And all of this IS a big idea. But my point is that it’s also a small one, and an obvious one. It does not take genius, or a group thinktank, or even multi-cellular life forms, to figure out that Inclusion works better in the long run. What DOES take group thinking (even among the single-celled life forms) is figuring out the how. Application is not an easy thing that can be solved with easy answers. It will take us centuries to get to where we want to be on this; it has taken us millennia to get to where we are now.

As soon as humans began defining right and wrong, we began defining excuses to do the wrong thing and get away with it. Many (most?) cultures have some basic rules stating that we shouldn’t hurt each other. Exclusion of ANY kind—racism, sexism, ageism, any kind of ism—stems from the desire to create an excuse to see someone else as less than human, and therefore ok to treat as unequal. It is a pathetic, disgusting loophole that humans created so they can be allowed to hurt each other for personal gain, even though it’s defined as “wrong” to do so.

By targeting the “isms” we are only treating the symptoms of the main disease – that we still have the desire to revert to animal instincts and act only for our own gain, rather than the gain of all. How do we stop it at its core? What terminology and social psychology do we need to understand in order to help all of us overcome this desire? We are all guilty of it to some degree, even all of us who are trying so hard to be beyond this.

That is why I am here. Because these are my beliefs, and all I want is to keep learning more. I do not know in what way I want to help, but in the meantime I will be a student, and help however I can with this organization.

So that’s my view on Inclusion. It is personal in the sense that I do not expect everyone to agree on most of the things I am saying. And I respect that. Our reasons to be here do not make our goals any more or less valid – the fact that we’re here is what matters. :)