We’re all the same. And that’s what makes us simultaneously different.
Confused? Seems counterintuitive?
It’s not.
As artists, the raw material from which we pull to create (it doesn’t matter if you’re a writer or actor or musician) is your own life. All expressions (even if they are expressions of someone else’s writing or lyrics or words) are still being channeled through you.
So you’re getting up and telling someone’s story, per se, but that story is being told through your own life.
Your pain, your love, your terror, your desires, your revenge fantasies, your dreams, your anger, your hate, your heartbreaks; and on and on it goes with everything you’ve survived and overcome in life. Everything you’ve celebrated or achieved. Everything you’ve been disappointed by or victoriously vanquished.
Life indeed is the canvas. But you are the painter and your autobiography – your personal history – is the paint.
And that’s why we’re all the same. Everyone on this planet – everyone – has the same hope for their own lives. We all want love. Connection. We all desire joy and freedom. We all want to be heard and acknowledged. Yes, some people want to be actors. Other people want to be doctors or lawyers. Some people are artisans or professional athletes.
So the manifestation of our dream-stuff is different and specific for each of us. But the core molding clay from where it comes – our passions, pursuits, desires, our need to self-express through some form – is all the same. It’s the same stuff that’s been propelling humanity forward since time began. It’s the same core stuff that created the cosmos. And it’s the same for all of us. You could also call it spirit or energy or flow or ideas or the blueprint or the quantum. It’s in our DNA. We’re imbued with it.
Speaking of DNA, here’s a little science to prove how we’re all the same.
The Human Genome Project shows that we share the same DNA amongst all human beings. We’re 99.9% the same.
So we think we’re different when we judge people who feel so far removed from ourselves. Whether from a different country, or different religion; different sexual preference or different career choice. But everyone’s stuff we have judgments about are just projections of our own qualities we are grappling with.
So maybe the goal is to just keep letting everyone be. Allow yourself to be, working through your stuff as best you can. Giving people the benefit of the doubt. Forgiving more. Letting go. Seeing more clearly that we’re all in this together. Because truly (and scientifically), we are all together – 99.9 % of us.