Categorization

In the act of categorization, the "other" is combined with the "the" and stripped of its otherness.  It is a violent act that strips the other of its individuality.  And yet it is a characteristic of all human thinking.  It is impposible to speak or think without categorizing.  When we use words we are categorizing.  When I say "Melba is a cat" I am categorizing her.   I am shutting out some of her ownmost characteristics, such as her colors, weight etc so that I and you can "get a handle" on her.  We may try to undo some of this damage, when we describe some of her traits, but still...The use of all language involves "trying to get a handle" on or manipulate the world.  And why do we do this?  Because the world, in its shapelessness is overwhelming.  We and all animals are locked in, or at least feel locked in a constant battle for survival.  When exiting the womb we see things as they are, and it is too much.  We start to cry.  Lacking fangs or venom our only way to survive is to use our mind, to get a handle on things, to define them, to turn them into tools if need be.  For some, the act of meditating is an attempt to let things be, to let things come as they are without defining them.  Looking at a work of art may be an attempt to view something in its undefined essence.   Of course, meditating or visiting museums are only activities that can be done at our leisure.  And can we really see things as shapeless blobs as a baby might see them?  Not really.  We may see or experience more of the thing in itself, but our lenses set, our neural networks are formed, our horizons forever limited.  We are murderers.