Fear at the Root
This beautifully gets to the root - fear. We create “othering” when we fear. The more “ist” a person is, the more I wonder about the depth of their fear and the suffering they must be experiencing. What caused that fear? What is it like to live with it? What could make them feel safe? They are looking to control their external world, to fill it with the familiar. So much fear.
We adults often have very strong judgments about others, expressed with a kind of vehemence. Anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, homophobia, nationalism, and practically all the “isms” are examples of this. Homophobia is really the only one correctly named, since it points to an unacknowledged fear in the one making the judgment.
Opening to Oneness
Nancy Mujo Baker