Differences are how we judge each other. It is how we gauge each other’s value. It is how we either measure ourselves or enable us to become prejudice against our fellow man, or realize the difference gap and bridge it and  help our fellow man.

I was visiting a historic ancient temple in India and was being a typical tourist, setting myself apart with my awkwardness and my  own sense of values. I was in a little village where everyone around me were most certainly poor and uneducated. ( Note I have already set up differences with descriptions of poverty and education status) The men and women were divided into gender lines as is the custom, and mostly everyone waited patiently in their cues waiting to enter the temple at the appointed  hour. You could clearly tell from the traditional outfits that  my fellow devotees were local. I stood out like a sore thumb. I started having a flood of thoughts of my own societal judgements like “why are we waiting so long? Do they not know who I am and they should let me in first? The locals should go to a different entrance etc.. ” Basically prejudicial ideas that were spiraling out of control   about differences such as  where I am from, my economic status versus those around me, the clothes I wore, the price of my clothes, my education status, my gender etc. All of which were trying to let my  ego know that I was better than everyone else around me, an instinctive survival technique when feeling overwhelmed by the masses in a foreign land. Then suddenly someone shouted out in a native tongue a praise to the Lord. Immediately everyone shouted out the same. Since I am familiar with the religion and of the similar faith I too blurted out the same with vigor. I then paused for but a second and realized there was no difference between the man next to me or the women in the next line. We were all in the same line, for the same purpose. There was no gap. We all wanted the blessings of God, and were willing to endure the lines for that purpose. To then go in at full speed into the temple and then offer ourselves to the Creator and humbly beg for forgiveness and a better life. Either I had elevated my fellow man to my status or I stooped to his level, in any case the gap was bridged and differences were no more.  The local people in the line were happily standing laughing and singing prayer songs, while I was getting agitated. I created these differences in my mind with the help of my ever present ego.

When my wife was in the other line with our son, she too noticed something odd. When the guard at the entrance was screaming at the masses to stay in line with anger and force, as she approached the entrance he smiled at her and let her pass and then immediately yelled at the women behind her to move aside , and the women in front of her to keep the line moving. He may have noticed that she was carrying a child or that she was not a local, a foreigner, a tourist and elevated her status. But why have the difference gap in the first place? Our egos continue with this tumultuous war of judging and prejudice in an effort to survive. We find the smallest of things to nit pick and create rifts. Color of hair, eyes, height, weight, are small, but these escalate to differences of religious beliefs,  cultural ideologies, societal practices that then lead to  wars, condemnation and death, or at least until one side has ‘won’

We all get up in the morning, we all have to use the toilet, we all have change our clothes, we all bathe, we all try to eat breakfast, we all perform the same morning ablutions. In the night we all sleep. We are all seeking the same thing, happiness, peace and a easier life. We are a lot more similar than we have differences. We all wish to be loved, and to love. We all wish to be free. Letting go of the ego, and setting it free is the answer. No ego, no differences.

Whether you are old, young, male, female, black, brown, white, rich or poor, it does not make a difference, we all pick our noses the same way !! ( and yes you do) The question is whether will you make ANY difference in another, viewed through your miopic vision to create prejudice or will you take on the panoramic view of your fellow man and the world. Try bridging the difference gap and see how good you feel with the sense of oneness with all around you. The universe does not see you any different than any one else, why do you let yourself see and create the differences. You were created from the same universal spark with the same chance at life that everyone and everything else. But some will say that a child is either born into a rich or poor family, but who created these differences since time in memorial, we have.

If you look to me, I look to you, there is no difference. Broaden your vision  and see that gaps are not really there.  How different are you? Or are you that different?