The Puzzled Primate (Sumi ink on paper)
I am a simple human being, a minuscule but integral part of life, just like you. We were both born at a given point in time and space, and I do not doubt that our minds were thoroughly conditioned by slightly different versions of the particular cultural norms and values that also gave form to the minds of our parents and teachers.
As every human being that has ever walked on the surface of the Earth, we were educated to believe that we existed in separation from everyone and everything else. In many subtle and not-so-subtle ways, we were told that we were who we were because we were not like others and that, conversely, that they were who they were because they were fundamentally different from whom we were. With this sense of separation firmly in place, it was easy for me to conclude —as it was also for you, I am sure— that the difference between the memories and desires constituting my identity and informing the particular character of my perception, thought, and action, amply justified indifference, if not open conflict and even violence, between you and I. Love between us was also possible, of course, but only when important similarities or peculiar contrasts were present, and even in these circumstances the resulting relationship would be stringently exclusive and prone to conflict, betrayal, and failure.
In general, we have grown accustomed to the permanent distance that separates human beings, even though this distance has enormous mental, social and ecological consequences. Fortunately, there are minds that are keenly alert to the presence of these symptoms, the suffering they cause, and the grave dangers they warn about, and this very awareness frees them from the cultural and psychological programming that keeps others separate. Freedom is the perception that the real ground of human existence is not personal/tribal consciousness, but the mysterious stream of life indivisible.