When we call ourselves by a religious brand-name (Jew, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, etc.), or a nationality (English, German, Thai, Australian, Indian, and so on)—at the same time we are saying, without words, what we are not. In this way, we limit ourselves and deny ourselves the possibility of drinking at the well-springs of many sources.
     If we were not so attached to and preoccupied with names and labels and saw, instead, our basic humanity, the wealth of the world’s wisdom would be available to us in incalculable amounts, and we would feel no shame or hesitation in picking up gems wherever we find them; after all, a diamond is a diamond no matter where it is found, is it not?
     We could avoid religious and racial conflict and antagonism if we realized that we do not live in water-tight compartments, shut off from people of other races, nations, and religions, and that we are now well-into a world culture; our lives touch and overlap those of others like tiles on a roof or the scales of a fish. Even if we never travel abroad, we depend so much upon people from all over the world simply because of the global economy. These are things to be considered.