LoneButch

Hey, you hit it on the mark. This is why racism exists... and why a lot of nasty things exist. I've been studying Buddhism mostly secular Buddhist philosophy. Humans first crave essentials: food, water, shelter. Then humans crave identity. Identity is something we all desire. It helps fuel our ego and gives us a sense of purpose. We are domesticated in society to learn our identity. The problem is we become so entangled with our identity that we forget that all humans are essentially the same. We are all just biological bodies with consciousness. We all have same needs: food, water, happiness, love, etc. So how can we really be superior? It's easy for me to feel superior as I identify as an "intellectual." I often see other people as unintelligent and ignorant. But, when I look at the world in a third-person perspective, I realize we are all essentially the same. I always think about Frankl's (Man's Search of Meaning Author) description of the holocaust. All the men he was around were stripped. Stripped of their identities (other than being jews), stripped from their families, stripped from their clothes, stripped from their possessions, and were all starving and suffering together. All humans can end up like that. We can all end up being naked, cold, afraid, and only our bare bodies to identify us. We can all have concussions that wipe our minds from all our memories and knowledge. Then what essentially makes you, you. It is your consciousness... your ability to think... and your ability to observe you are thinking. That's what makes us human. And if you can internalize this concept, you will find it hard to hate anyone which will bring you peace.