What Kind of Future do You Want to See?

A note from the International Post Dogmatist Group.

The Ontological Museum’s collection policy is such that no distinction is made as to who can contribute to the museum. From the very beginning we have had an open door, open arms policy. The gate stands open, there are no gatekeepers, no committees, no judges. Virtually anyone can contribute to the collection within the range of our collection goals and once inside our gates all works are cherished equally as a part of the whole. We, as institutional policy, are blind to race, gender, age, culture, experience, economic standing, market value, or any other differences or distinctions.

At present there are many issues being discussed related to racial bias, cultural bias, economic bias, etc. and all of the wrongs of the past. From our perspective we see all of us as fundamentally human. This is the root of all of our relationships among ourselves and with the rest of the world we occupy and all of its inhabitants – the other living beings that we share this planet with.

There can be no question that there are endless inequities in life. Each of us is a minority of one but all of us together are also only one – one humanity. What that means to each of us is a continuously evolving perspective based on an endless number of factors. But in the end we are all one family, one species of beings and that is our common thread that binds us all together. It is natural for each and every one of us that we become an individual, that we identify ourselves as one different than all others. It is also natural that we identify ourselves with being a part of various communities. We might start out identifying ourselves as a community of children or we identify ourselves as a part of a particular race, or gender or culture or religion. We might begin to identify ourselves as a part of an economic class or a community of specialists like being a part of the art community or the medical community or a part of a particular political philosophy, etcetera and so on. Each of us can identify ourselves as being a part of an indefinite number of fluid communities and at the same time we are not a part of many other communities usually by default but yes, sometimes by exclusion. But we all tend to include and exclude others, we tend to distinguish, we tend to discriminate, these are all human traits that we all share. We all also tend to love, to hate, to appreciate and to resent others depending on our particular place or perception of place in relation to others and how other place us in relation to themselves. These are all human things, we all do it.

But what can be a good strategy is to develop a good attitude toward ourselves and toward others. It is up to each of us to develop tolerance, empathy, the ability to harmonize with others, to respect ourselves and everyone else as well, to overlook what can be overlooked, to call things out when they need to be called out, to be brave, to watch out for the well-being others , to be helpful when help is required, to allow others to be who they are, to treat others as we would want to be treated, to be inwardly peaceful. And to practice all of these things unilaterally, on our own regardless of what others do, make the world a better place right where you are, take care of your spot in the world. Make your own policies. Tend to those things that are yours to tend to and let others tend to their things the best they can.

Studying the past has it’s value but occupying the present is where the power is and the place from which we build the foundations of the future. What kind of future do you want to see? Start building it. Let’s begin and then let’s continue.

Each of us are all of us.

Leave a Reply