Let’s compare: “Today, it was raining” – “What a bad weather!,” “My bet at the Bookmaker’s failed” -“Well, I have no luck, ”This girl is wearing a short skirt” – “Definitely, she is a spoiled one.” Do you feel the difference? In the first case, we are describing the situation as it is. In the second case, we attach a label to the situation or the person.
How do we often behave? Definitely, the second one. In which case is our internal serenity maintained? Definitely, the first one. But why do we prefer the second one. Very simple. Because by attaching a label and making rash judgment, we are reacting to the moment, “I am in bad mood, so the weather should be bad too,” we are engaged in self-compassion, “I am unhappy, but Poghos who is not any better than me, look, how far he has gone,” we raise our self-appraisal,” this girl is spoiled, unlike me or my favorite girl, who is a carrier of high morality.”
The last motivation of attaching a label, of course, is dominant. How else should I satisfy my petty “ego” if I do not belittle others? I should either be self-established in social arena with by “successes” or seek my or my group’s “advantages” over other individuals or groups. Instead of doing a socially useful work, we either are focused on our mood or feel compassion for ourselves (“I feel sorry for these people,” which translated means – “Poor me!”), or, most often, we are looking for opportunities of self-establishment. This search never ends and makes people exhausted. That is why, perhaps, the majority of people feel unhappy.
The entire vocabulary of the politicians consists of labels. If they see, let’s say, a tree or a stone, they are unable to perceive the tree or the stone as it is and take the pleasure in this very fact. Their brain is working only in one direction: to classify them under any “rubrics” – angels, demons, national, anti-national, with people, against people, ours, yours and so on. The tree is not a tree for them but an excuse of self-establishment, to “be right” and making someone feel “wrong”. They indeed suffer, but not from ” but the inner anxiety.
Indeed, it is impossible to avoid assessments and judgments completely. Simply, we should not treat them too seriously because they describe a small part of the reality. The illusory and ephemeral part.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
