When righteousness wins over humanity

Then we are not far from the turning towards a more humane world. 

Righteousness requires superiority, an imposed moral stand that one’s view or belief is better than another. It eliminates others by nature.

We know what it feels like to be eliminated for our opinions, our existence. 

And we also probably know what it feels like to eliminate. To be righteous. 

I know it well.

I like the buzz of feeling I have the moral high ground. It is a temporary superiority coming from a ground of lack. I work hard these days to not be righteous. I do not always win over myself.

Righteousness is the stuff of identity discovered in children’s playgrounds. We are supposed to grow up from the need to feel righteous over others.

We build our righteous stand-off against false gods.

And in the process, we forget what it means to be human. To seek for love, respect, dignity, self-expression, safety, beauty, as the human we are. Not in some imposed form dictated by the righteous.

In eliminating the other, we are eliminated. Out of the humus of hubris, we might find that we are as human as everyone else after all.

June 28th 2019

Photo taken June 28th 2019