Some societies regard themselves as “developed” and “civilized,” looking down upon others that are less industrially advanced. Seldom do we recognize how little such labels are concerned with spiritual and emotional dimensions beyond the material and technological indicators.
Social critics highlight a moral crisis engulfing these “developed” countries, which are falling behind in honoring their proclaimed ideals of upholding human dignity.
Indifference to hunger and homelessness, dismissing wartime civilian deaths as “collateral damage” or callousness toward mass incarceration enabled by a flawed criminal justice system all bear testimony to the erosion of dignity -- even in our so-called developed society.
We fall into the trap of deflecting individual accountability for honoring human dignity to governments and human rights organizations, forgetting that in our daily lives we engage in countless individual acts and utterances that shape our collective consciousness around human dignity.
We have silently colluded to create a two-tiered caste system, dividing people into those who deserve to be treated with dignity and those whose dignity being mercilessly violated is simply the status quo.
The poor, prisoners and even entire races are demonized and, consciously or subconsciously, reduced to a less-than-human status.
As seen throughout centuries of history, denigration of the dignity of any class of people opens the door to countless categories of emotional and physical violence.
A project exploring “Voices of the Poor” spearheaded by Deepa Narayan at the World Bank rejected the economists’ idea of poverty and instead asked people living in abject poverty about what it means to be poor.
Through poignant stories, these people tell us about their direct experience of poverty as a frontal assault on their dignity, rather than a matter of material scarcity. When we look at a homeless person with judgment, derision or avoidance, we contribute to their experience of poverty beyond the simple material realities of their life.
Within the United States, we need to relearn how to maintain a steadfast commitment to the dignity of even the people whose decisions and behavior we may reject. We must grasp the difference between rejecting a person’s actions vs. rejecting them as a human being.
Blinded by judgment, we often condemn the whole person, just as others have condemned us in the past.
The vicious cycle of self-hate (toward oneself) and violence (toward others) are two sides of the same coin.
In the book “Emotional Wellness: Transforming Fear, Anger and Jealousy into Creative Energy,” the Indian mystic Osho reminds us that too often our relationship with ourselves is fractured by a pervasive self-hate, which leads us to easily demean the dignity of others.
Loving and accepting ourselves will open the door to a society that upholds human dignity. Remembering that the other is a socially conditioned human being like us, scarred by the pain of living in a brutal world, can save us from slipping into contempt.
To Osho, our reverence for God is hypocritical unless we can come to respect all of God’s creations. We may begin with human beings, but we must not stop there.
Honoring the dignity of all beings will help us heal from the hypocrisy, for example, of being selectively protective of our pets while turning a blind eye to the animal cruelty that underlies our dietary choices and environmental destruction.
A truly loving heart can never feast on another’s pain. It will honor the dignity of the Earth and all her inhabitants.