WHAT WE LEARN AT THE BEGINNING

WHAT WE LEARN AT THE BEGINNING

Have you ever thought about who you are? Have you ever consider about your own identity? Knowing ourselves is so important a first step for each of us to move and understand one another, and try to think in a new different way.

In SOP 2017, we- participants come from 10 countries with different culture, religions and ways of life. We see things in different perspectives and of course, conflicts can happen easily. Therefore, the very first session we learn is about Culture, Diversity and Multiple Identity- a good start to open to window of understanding.

So what is Culture? Culture to us is like the colour sunglasses, and how you see the world in your own way is also same as how you wear a pair of sunglasses to look at everything. The color of sunglasses is constantly changing. And a person may have many sunglasses. The way you understand the world around reflects yourself as well as your culture.

We are not born with culture. It’s taught to us, intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes you are not aware of it.

In one’s culture, it’s a “must” to stand up when answering the teachers, but in others’ you just can sit down. In your culture, you have your own specific dishes and in my country, I have my own ones. You speak your mother tongue languages and I do, too. Etc. And we always know that the world is much bigger than what we can imagine. But these are examples for Diversity, what we learn next in the first session.

Sessions in Omah Petroek

Diversity is not just because countries. It can be from religions, knowledge, age, gender, race, sexual orientation… Diversity is not just about the tangible easy differences. It can be unseen and unconscious. Day by day we learn how to tolerate with it and we accept it. For example when we first come to this SOP, we are all strangers, full of confuses and problems. Then gradually we change to observe our friends, see how they live, what they think, try to start a conversation and step by step, eliminate our prejudices before. Then friendship grows up, and diversity now is an oppoturnity to learn more and more.

The day we get to know more about each other

There is a saying we do appreciate that If you spend your time with the same person, you can not identify your prejudices. Sometimes we tend to have biases, stereotypes and prejudices with people, instead of going ahead to start a conversation. We are easily creating labels on someone, and keep acting in the way we thin we should do. And worse than it, we come to discrimination, treats people unequally just because their race, ethnictity, faith or nationality… That sounds bad, but how can we know our own prejudices and stereotype?

“We all drink for the same stream”, breathing the same air and above all, we are human beings. So, step out of your comfortzone. Never be so comfortable, maybe the next step we don’t know what’s going to happen? You might feel unsafe, annoyed or want to come back to the old path. But dare to join SOP 2017 is itself a great beginning step to get out of comfort zone.

Thus enjoy SOP, enjoy the sessions and enjoy such experience to live together, and wait to see what’s going to happene on our journey in the next two and half months.

Learning about Buddhism in Indonesia

30^th July, 2017.