Sunday, December 10, 2017

Anjali - The Danger of Labels

We were discussing something about dog food today. Anjali told some story about how two guys ate dog food and survived. I told her of how Pedigree, the dog food, was good enough to eat - when we did a program for Mars they has actually invited us to the plant and to eat the dog food.

'Once we give a name it changes everything,' she said.

'Labels,' pondered Shobha.

'If it was not called dog food people would probably eat it like they would eat McDonalds or something,' said Anjali.

Wow! That's a bit thing to discover. That labels are so restricting. That they change our perception and they change our actions.

And just this evening I was reading the 'Tao Te Ching' and there is a line which goes something like, the moment it is called something is the time when you must stop doing whatever you are doing, because you are stuck with the label and it straitjackets you.

"The uncarved block is greater than anything under heaven
Once the block is carved there will be names
As soon as there are names, it is time to stop"

Good for you Anjali. 

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