The Human Spectrum - Lensography

So many see the world in terms of black and white, and often black versus white. Some would dearly love to see the world reduced to nothing but black and white, us versus them, right versus wrong. Eventually they would reduce the world to one single color, the color of their choosing.

What then, when the world is reduced to only shades of gray. When everyone looks, thinks, talks, and acts exactly the same. We all share the same beliefs, the same ideas, the same thoughts and the same emotions. The world becomes flat, and dull, and gray.

They see security in sameness, but they are blind to the beauty in difference. I have always been different, though some do not put it as kindly as that. I'm a strange girl, always have been, and most likely always will be.

Because I've always felt like I was on the outside looking in, I've spent a great deal of time watching those who are "normal." Through those observations I have come to see that the world does not exist as a black and white entity, but as a spectrum.

The full spectrum of humanity fascinates me. The differences in beliefs, cultures, appearances. The power of a persons environment to shape their who being. Humans are such complex and amazing creatures. Yet with all of the obvious differences, we are still more same than different.

This is my view of "The human spectrum"

We are familiar with the concept of good and evil, that positive exists on one end of the line and negative exists on the other.

Now it is easy to see this example because most people believe in some form of positive and negative.

Many people see this line as an either/or concept, those that are different from themselves exist on the negative end of the spectrum, and those who are the same as being on the positive end.

The human spectrum is far wider... Each of us does not belong to one spectrum but many, and the poles aren't necessarily good or evil just opposites.

Democrat ---------- Republican

Religious ---------- Secular

Sociopath ---------- Empath

Overeater ---------- Anorexic

Pro-life ---------- Pro-choice

It can apply to just about any trait we possess. Most of us do not exist on the extreme ends of the spectrum, but we do exist somewhere on the scale. Some towards the middle, some leaning left or right.

Now some believe it is the middle we should avoid, that if we do not lean one way we should lean the other.

I disagree, I say in most cases the middle should be our goal.

So, I write about many things. I talk of the journey from victim to thriver, the journey from doormat to lobster, I talk about raising healthy kids, and creating healthy minds. I talk about many things, but do I have a niche?

Introducing the human spectrum...

It doesn't pay a lot, I'm nothing more than a starving artist. I could give up and turn towards affiliate sales, or network marketing. There is nothing wrong with those things, but they just aren't where my passion lies.

My passion lies in examining that human spectrum, in learning as much as I can about it. I want to see people clearly, unhampered but judgment or prejudice. I don't want to think I know them, I want to know them.

I want to spend my whole life helping one person understand another. I want to connect them, I want them to see that the person they saw as so different from themselves really wasn't all that different after all.

I don't guess I'll ever make a lot of money doing it, but I'm not doing it for money. I'm doing it to help others see and understand the human spectrum. Hopefully when someone walks away from a conversation with me, or even reading my writing, hopefully they walk away with something they didn't have before.

I don't care what as long as it was something. I hope they laughed, they cried, they felt, I hope they connected. If they didn't, then I have failed but I can always try again.

If there is a secret to life, in my opinion it is balance. It is avoiding extremes as much as possible. When our lives are balanced, we are at peace with ourselves and with others, it is only when that balance is thrown off that our life spins out of control.

It has been said that all things in moderation are good, it is only in the excess that problems begin.

A small amount of anger is actually a healthy thing, it tells us that something is wrong emotionally and needs to be addressed just as physical pain signals physical problems. It is only when we let that anger get out of control, when we allow it to harm others that anger becomes a bad thing.

A small amount of alcohol now and then is a good thing, it has even been proven medically beneficial. When alcohol moves over into excess, it becomes a problem. It destroys relationships, families, lives. It leaves scars not just on the user, but on everyone the user has a relationship with.

There will always be a certain balance to life. If you seek power you must also accept responsibility. If you seek rewards in life, you must first do the work to gain them. If you seek to be taken seriously you must also take others seriously.

The only way to truly attain that balance in life is to stay somewhere in the middle of the human spectrum, to see others as neither above, nor below yourself. All humans were created equal, but equality is only good if you use it. You must apply it to both yourself and others.

There are a lot of miserable people in this world, and the source of most misery lies in not maintaining balance in some area of their life. One of the most miserable people I know spends all of their time trying to control others. They don't ask, they don't beg, they just insist that their demands be met.

Their misery is apparent to anyone who comes across them, but it really isn't apparent to them. If they just attained some balance in life, if they just offered their respect to others instead of demanding it for themselves people would actually want to meet in the middle.

"Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." ~ Ferris Bueller

I long to see a day where we experience true peace in this world, as unrealistic as that may be. The only way we will ever accomplish peace either within ourselves, or with the rest of the world is to find a way to meet in the middle.

Extreme points of view become -isms and -isms divide people. Racism, sexism, elitism. When one point of view becomes so dominant in a persons mind that it excludes all others -isms happen, and when -ism happens all hopes for peace are destroyed.

We will never find peace insisting that there is only one way to do things. I may not be able to find peace in the world we live in, but I can find peace in my heart. I can bring peace to my home, to my children, to my friends. I can even bring a small bit of peace to a stranger.

I can compliment a waitress in a restaurant, I can leave her with a bit of peace in her day. It may mean nothing to her or she may remember it years later. No matter, I do it because bringing peace and balance to others brings me peace and balance.

Because of the way I view the human spectrum, I just can't see people as being above or beneath me, I see all of us as equal. That applies to my best friend and worst enemy. I see them as no less deserving of respect than anyone else on earth.

I can appreciate that we are at different places in our own human spectrum, what I see as wrong they may see as right... we may disagree on one thing or another, but it doesn't matter. We are still more same than different, be it friend or be it enemy.

Someone is not lesser than us just because we have differences, and never will be. Maybe I'm a dreamer for believing that, maybe I'm even crazy but I'm willing to take that chance.

The human spectrum is too beautiful to miss, it is what makes life worth living. That fact that you and I are different is what adds color to the world, the fact that you and I are the same is what adds balance. All across that spectrum, life is beautiful.