Big Projects, Prejudices And A New Dictionary: What Does It Mean To Love Your Neighbor As Yourself?
Projects, Indifference And Prejudices
I have many projects in my mind, but since it is not possible to do all of these properly in one day, I either postpone them or announce them as an event. I see that no one is interested in these projects. For example, I announced on my Instagram page that I wanted to start a virtual event where women could do English speaking exercises. Almost two weeks have passed since then. Some women like this idea, but when it comes to participating, no one is interested in it. You know I argue that criticizing is of no use. Absolutely each of them has subjects they work on to increase their qualifications that will guarantee the three basic needs for all humanity, and they do not have time to participate in my project to improve our English.
While I was thinking like this, a woman who said she had some psychological disorders sent me a message. This was a question and the question was this: Are you a Christian? As you can guess, I was not surprised at all. When we share something on social media, it is normal to be prejudiced according to what the visual is. Our brain classifies the people we meet for the first time according to their outward appearance. Since some of my illustrations are also inspired by very famous Jesus frescoes, people who see the Jesus figure think that I am trying to spread Christianity. I guess there is a common understanding that people who draw pictures of Jesus are Christians.
I am putting this aside because it is extremely normal that there are people who have not yet understood what I am trying to do and why I am making these posts. Besides, I also find doing easy things more fun than taking the time to think about difficult things.
The "Love Your Neighbor As Yourself" Universal Dictionary Project
Anyway! Another project was to redefine all the words in the dictionary from the perspective of the 3 basic needs and thus create a "love your neighbor as yourself" universal dictionary. This is a very big project, and while drawing and painting pictures, bringing these pictures together properly with historical events and preparing reels videos, writing this dictionary also felt heavy to someone like me who loves to be lazy. I care about this dictionary issue a lot because, as a work that has not been done so far, I think whoever does it will make history. I defined some words from the perspective of the 3 basic needs using artificial intelligence for a few words, but as the name implies, it was very artificial. I like transforming my illustrations into animations through artificial intelligence, but whenever I make artificial intelligence write the texts, something does not satisfy me. It truly becomes artificial. Maybe this condition will change in the future, maybe I will learn to write better prompts, but it is like this for now.
Returning to the subject, writing a "love your neighbor as yourself" dictionary does not look like a job I can do alone. Maybe if I dedicate only a few years of my life to this work, I can complete a medium-thick dictionary. I offer to work together on this project to women who do not wonder what religion I am from, who do not have any psychological disorders, and who do not use any addictive drugs or substances that will prevent them from thinking.
How Will The Dictionary Be Prepared? An Example: "Table"
The work will be as follows:
We will take a thick dictionary like Collins or Oxford English Dictionary as a reference and we will redefine all words one by one from the perspective of the 3 basic needs. We will write an example sentence for each word so that people become unable to escape from a common perception of value. Let us say it is the turn for the word "table" in the dictionary, its definition could be like this:
Table: A legged surface where people gather around to guarantee food, safe shelter, and the "love your neighbor as yourself" education for all humanity.
Example sentence: Projects that will guarantee the three basic needs for all humanity were discussed at this table.
Can you imagine the magnitude of the project? Can you calculate the energy that will be gathered at the focus of the lens of universal values that creating such a dictionary will generate? It is not possible for me to do this alone for the entire dictionary. Therefore, I need to form a team. I also need to create a working environment that will keep this team together. I need to find people who will add their nights to their days to define words and construct the most appropriate example sentences, and people who will brew the tons of tea these people will drink while working. Whoever is interested in this subject should contact me. I think this work can be started in universities, thought workshops, and communities where regular conferences and lectures are given.
It does not matter in which language we start this huge dictionary work. It does not matter whether we prepare it in Turkish or English. Here we can use artificial intelligence technology at this stage. We define the words in the dictionary from the perspective of the three basic needs and give them to artificial intelligence to translate them into other languages along with their example sentences. With the collaboration of technology and human, we will elevate all humanity to a higher level and have a universal resource. As a Turkish woman, I would be proud if this dictionary was prepared in my society and made by the people of my country. I hope it will be so, but people from whichever nation do this, all humanity will be grateful to them. I will talk about the love your neighbor as yourself dictionary again later. I think even the explanation of this project here is enough to change your perspective on existing dictionaries and words, and I await all your support on this subject with interest and curiosity.
The Coloring Book And What The Chair Made Me Think
Let us continue with our current work. In this section, I want to show you a page from my coloring book that you can download for free from the 3need.art website. The coloring book named comfortable corners is my first coloring book and if you also like coloring pre-drawn pictures like me, it is just for you. I colored a part of it and I will continue later, but I wanted to share it with you since the subject came up. The subject is the red chair you also see in the illustration. More precisely, the history of the chair. Until the Middle Ages, only kings, pharaohs, or high-ranking clerics sat on chairs; other people lived by sitting on stools without backs, benches made of simple materials, or directly on the floor. I mean, if you were not an important person, you did not even have the right to sit leaning your back.
What would happen if we acted according to the sacred law of love your neighbor as yourself? In this case, sacred texts come into play, and the condition of wanting the good things you want for yourself for other people too, which is common in all belief systems, emerges. Words like "If you have only one pillow, give it to your slave and sleep on the floor yourself" or "If you have only one chair, give it to your guest and sit on the floor yourself..." start to be spoken by people known in society as wise, saints, or beloved servants of God. Since even which chair we sit on today is considered an indicator of social status, let us look at how we can correct ourselves on this issue.
I am not talking about breaking up the dining table set and distributing the excess number of chairs to our neighbors. In fact, one of the rare subjects we have made progress on since the Middle Ages is that now almost all of us have more than one comfortable chair in our homes. The chair is a metaphor here. The important thing is how we will use the chair to obey the "love your neighbor as yourself" universal law. Do we really want other people to sit in beautiful chairs too, or do we want only ourselves to sit in the most senior chair? Do we want our chair to be soft but others to sit on stools where they cannot even lean their backs? If other people do not know how to earn enough money to buy a soft chair, what can I do, do I think those who do not know how to earn money do not have the right to sit comfortably either?
Being A True Human And Guaranteeing The Basic Needs
This just looks like a simple chair, but its roots trigger a very deep thought. What are the basic needs? What do we need to do to deserve to sit in a soft, comfortable chair? According to the law of love your neighbor as yourself, food and safe housing must be guaranteed for all people. This guaranteeing act itself is the meaning of life. When we do it only for ourselves, we do not live in this world like a real human being. We turn into some kind of monster. Maybe we eat kebab every day, but like a monster.
There is only one behavior that makes us a real human being, and that is to work to ensure that all other people are also fed well and sheltered in good conditions at least as much as ourselves. Loving your neighbor as yourself means guaranteeing that their stomachs are also full and that they live in a safe house. It is also certain that we will not do this willingly. This is what being a human already means, that is, someone who can control their body, develop willpower, and manage their momentary desires. Creatures that act however they want at that moment are called animals; they eat when they get hungry, sleep when they get sleepy, defecate wherever they find when they need to go to the toilet. The difference of a human is that they accept that these needs are also a need for others and that providing this comfort to them too is the only behavior that entitles one to live in this comfort.
So if the question of what should we do, what can we do right now comes to your mind, my articles have already reached their goal. Once you start thinking about this, you will no longer be your old self. Such a simple and difficult to implement law concerns only a group of people. It is extremely normal that their numbers are small. The only thing they can do is implement a common work program. Imagine, even chairs entering all homes only happened since the Middle Ages. We know that a much longer time is already needed for all humanity to obey the "love your neighbor as yourself law".
While trying to create this program, many projects come to my mind. One of them is to establish virtual or physical workshops where we will color coloring books page by page together. In these workshops, not only coloring but discussing, examining the "love your neighbor as yourself" universal law, and defining it once again within the framework of guaranteeing food and housing.