LivingWaters on Nostr: The Trap of Labels: The Fence AnalogyImagine a vast, open field where you can roam ...

The Trap of Labels: The Fence AnalogyImagine a vast, open field where you can roam freely, explore, and grow. Now picture someone placing a fence in the middle of that field. They tell you that everything on one side of the fence belongs to the Democrats, and everything on the other side belongs to the Republicans. At first, the fence doesn’t seem like much of a barrier, but over time, people on each side start to view the other as separate, different, even dangerous. The fence isn’t real in any meaningful sense—it’s just a construct—but because people believe in it, it begins to shape their behavior, their identity, and their worldview. This fence is a mental prison, limiting your perception of what’s possible. When you’re confined to one side, you stop seeing the people on the other side as fellow human beings; they become “the other.” The more tightly you cling to your side, the more you reinforce the idea that the fence is real, even though it’s just an illusion. To grow beyond this, you must realize that the fence was never there in the first place—it’s just a perception. By shedding the labels of Democrat and Republican, you free yourself to explore the full field of ideas, where the real issues lie.