The biblical account of the creation of the world is, from the very beginning, burdened with division. The act of creation introduces, for the first time in the history of the world, a variety of categories. It divides the homogeneous whole of the void: light from darkness, heaven from earth, land from water, flying creatures from crawling ones, predators from herbivores, and places the human being in a position of dominance. The act of creation is, in essence, the establishment of rules and regulations. It introduces hierarchy. From that moment on, EVERYTHING became CLASSIFICATION. The void had no distinctions; it was homogeneous, it was unity. With the Act of Creation, classification of all living beings began.
Once, while dying in India, I left my body for several minutes. I shed my ego, dissolved into dispersion, or rather, merged with the universe. What I remember from that experience is a blissful feeling of coming home — I’m coming home, wait for me! Could it be that the death of the physical FORM, the death of the body, is the only path back to unity, to our original state?
Brightness determines colour; colour determines life. Light creates colour, colour becomes information, creating distinction. The theory of race was based on colour. It determined one’s life, ambitions and freedom. Today, light determines, for example, attractiveness. As a species, we have become so stratified that our perception of one another is shaped by the smallest details: an elusive energy, a “healthy or unhealthy complexion,” posture — whether we sit or stand, how we sit, how we stand — our watch, the way we dress, whether we take care of ourselves, whether we smell good or not, how we eat, where we go, where we live, how much money we have. A different colour can arouse curiosity or fear. Colour is a pretext for division and classification. It is a powerful weapon that continues to be used around the world. Colour also means racism, persecution, the identification of the enemy, and stereotyping.
Species-based divisions always place human beings above others, because humans are the ones who construct them. Classifications, exclusionary laws, laws that permit killing and consumption. Predators and herbivores. Superior and inferior species. Some have their rights restricted, while others are killed by the billions. The instinctive disgust towards others, unfortunately, exists in every living being.
We love our animals. We love dogs, but we keep them on leashes. We castrate our friends for their own good. We clip their claws, smother them with affection, imprison them in our homes, cages and terrariums. Our sweet slaves. But we do not eat them — how far down the hierarchy must one fall to become nothing more than flesh, industrially fed to nourish others? The most magnificent species of pathological murderers: humans as monsters, life-killers. Submission as a condition for survival.
Dehumanisation has its own colours and smells. To dehumanise, we need comparisons — to animals, for example, to dirt, disease and danger. The allies of dehumanisation are filth, madness, helplessness, poverty, stereotypes, emotions and imagined perceptions. Any form of weakness can become the cause, and the starting point, of a process of degradation.
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