In the process of the regular meta-mix of things that I read, I’m always confronted with our society’s all-too-human obsession with “Us vs. Them” conversation. As people, we seem to revel in identifying and demonizing, or at least looking down on, some “Other”. This Other takes any number of identities, depending on what headline, post, or chance encounter we have with another person or real – or imagined – group.

I know we have done this forever. This stance is embedded so firmly in our psychology that we usually don’t even think about it – until we do. The space the Other inhabits seems to take one of three colors: (1) it is glossed over and ignored in the moment, usually because of attention paid elsewhere at the time; (2) it takes the color of a red flag, as if in a bull fight – activating any number of feelings, almost none of them positive or helpful; or (3) it takes on the hue of many other different options of color and response; this can be happening because of personal acquaintance, greater awareness of the connections of all things in this world we’re in, or perhaps some kind of personal or spiritual growth.

Another reason why this has recently resurfaced for me is because of side-by-side reading I have been doing in the New Testament book of First Timothy and the book The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt. The passage in Timothy that pairs these thoughts together is chapter 6, verses 6 through 19.

In particular, the balance between first part of this section that closes with the statement that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”, and the last part of this section that encourages those who are rich how to express Divine Love:

“As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”

So, it’s not evil to be rich, but what that rich person has as inner motivation to do the best they can in their life is the plain on which to stand. While throughout history God shows a preference for the poor and marginalized, the well-off are not ostracized. They are all human, too, and just as messed up as the rest of us.

While I’m still early on in reading the book by Arendt – it’s not an easy read – I’m impressed by her presentation of society’s ongoing shifting of private and public “excellence”, who gets to mark anything as “excellent”, and the evolution of economics, politics, and the role of society in it all. I am learning a lot, although I’m not sure I get it yet, but there’s no rush.

I feel that my point here is that there is not really any “Us vs. Them”.

There is only Us.

All the supposed divisions and real points of pain and suffering are part of our shared lives on this world. The sooner we learn to stop making assumptions about others – and ourselves – and open our eyes to our shared humanity and experience, the sooner that Reality can grow in our world. We can all move to the light together.

That’s where I want to go.