We survive on labels, but they keep us from truth. The path to living honestly is long, and many people never even recognize it. Why have we come to this? Why did we have to create such a complex framework—literature, scriptures, textbooks—to guide how to live? Why weren’t these texts required thousands of years ago? There must have been some fundamental way of living that humans adopted, and it must have worked well enough to last. Yet that same way also created problems—problems addressed by those texts, theories, and philosophies.

One thing is clear: the problem is perspective. I am not talking about physical safety or survival, but something on the mental level. If perspective is the problem, then how are we building perspectives that cause issues? One way is classification.

Classification is a habitual lens of perception where the mind quickly assigns people, objects, or situations to generalized categories or value labels, relying on inherited social frameworks rather than direct observation. While useful for speed and survival, this process oversimplifies reality, conceals underlying similarities, and distances us from truth.

Classification means categorizing something—someone, a situation, anything observable—almost immediately. You are continuously taught how to categorize, and you use those skills to classify new objects as you move forward. Classification can really save lives sometimes. For example, if you touch fire you will get burned; this isn’t taught formally—we know it through coding built over thousands of years. But classification also blinds us to similarities. We classify the world so much that we fail to observe how alike things are. Classification says we are humans, so we are the most intelligent species on the planet. Animals must be dumb. Without classification, you would see that the root chemical material that makes humans and animals is not merely similar—it is the same. Different arrangements, different mixes, but still the same.

Why does this matter? Because classification seems to bring clarity, but it hides reality under assumptions provided by society. The more layers you put on something, the easier it is to classify—but the harder it is to see what it actually is. “Helping a homeless person with money is a good act” is classification. Knowing that if you help this person with money, it would be good is direct understanding without classification. The devil is in the details.

In practice, viewing the world through classification is simpler but far from the truth. It takes practice to view a specific situation objectively, without a priori classification beliefs. This practice gives you wisdom. It is the only way to arrive at a reasonable next step. If you start doing this regularly, it will soon become muscle memory. You will no longer feel the need to define something or someone into a bucket. With reasoning and wisdom, you can objectively evaluate without bias. It will not only help your decision‑making but also help the people around you—eventually the whole world. The practice makes you question hypothetical classification layers. Once you truly learn to question something, you will find answers.

Action Steps

• Pause before labeling a person or situation.
• Describe what you observe in specifics instead of using categories.
• Ask one clarifying question: Why am I doing what I am doing?

Next time you face a situation, don’t label it good or bad. Go beyond classification. Ask only: Why am I doing this? In that question lies truth.