Racism Is Self-Harm: Healing Ignorance Through the Facts of Nonduality.

Racism Is Self-Harm:

Healing Racism Through the Facts of Nonduality.

Racism is often seen as a moral failing or a social injustice—and rightly so. But beyond these perspectives lies a deeper, often overlooked truth: racism is a form of self-harm. Beneath every act of judgment, fear, or separation is a mistaken identity—not just of others, but of ourselves. The one who hates, separates, or fears another is unknowingly attacking themselves. This isn’t metaphor or philosophy—it’s an observable fact grounded in the nature of reality itself.

At the root of racism is not just hatred of others, but a profound ignorance of what the self actually is. We believe others are fundamentally different and separate from us, and we act on that assumption, which as it turns out is only an illusion created by our minds. When we take an honest, fact-based look at what we are—and what others are—that illusion of separation dissolves. What replaces it is not just tolerance or empathy, but the undeniable realization that there is no “other” at all. There is only the one universal self appearing as many. Everyone is ourselves in disguise.

The Misunderstanding That Breeds Harm.

Racism begins with a belief: I am this, and you are that. I am “me,” and you are “other.” I am better; you are lesser. This separation is believed so deeply that entire systems, histories, and identities are built on it and our entire lives are lived by it. And yet the core belief—the belief in separateness itself—is false.

Science, logic, and introspection converge on the same truth: no person is a singular, self-existing being. What we call a person is more like a process—an unfolding event shaped by infinite number of previous causes and conditions. We mistakenly believe that we are a person existing apart and are only sustained by these countless of life processes, but there is no permanent or independent “self” anywhere amongst them. The perpetual process of life is us, the whole existence that includes everything.

Skin color, gender, language, and culture are not personal possessions; they are expressions of the universe. They belong to no one and carry no separate essence. What we call “Black” or “White,” “me” or “you,” are mental labels projected onto ever-changing forms that, in essence, are not different. These apparent differences do not define unique beings because:

1. The Body and Mind Are Not One Entity.

From subatomic particles to thoughts and emotions, what we call a person is a composite of countless, ever-changing elements. The body is made of cells and molecules—constantly changing, dying, and renewing. The mind, too, is not a single thing, but a stream of fleeting moments, each arising from previous ones.

There is no fixed “self” behind this process. No moment of body or mind can stand alone or claim ownership of existence. Even the experience of continuity is a mental construction. The idea of a singular, permanent “me” is an illusion—a label the mind applies to what is, in fact, a dynamic unfolding. There is no one entity behind the name. Nothing in the universe exists as one, indivisible thing—let alone a separate self.

2. We Are Not Self-Generated.

No being created themselves. No person possesses an internal mechanism (nature) capable of independently generating their body or mind. Every aspect of what we call a “self” is the result of countless conditions—parents, environment, culture, genetics, time, and countless unseen influences.

Far from being separate, we are each an expression of the same universal nature. There is no distinct essence of “Blackness” or “Whiteness” or any other identity. These are appearances—forms shaped by conditions, not intrinsic substances or essences. The real question is not only “Who am I?” but “What is expressing itself through me?”

And the answer is: the whole universe.

What appears as billions of separate lives is one life expressing itself through infinite forms. The boundaries we believe in exist only in thought—not in reality.

3. The “Person” Exists Only as a Mental Label.

This brings us to the role of the mind. The mind sees a body and instantly labels it: “Black,” “White,” “me,” “you.” But these labels are not found in the body itself—they are inventions, mental constructs projected onto varies forms.

Without the mind’s label, there is no “person” at all—only a body, which itself is not separate from the whole existence. There is no “Black person” or “White person”—only the whole, appearing in different shapes and labeled differently by different minds.

Our minds falsely believe these labels come from the outside world, from perceived bodies, but in truth, they are generated by us—and then believed by us. This is the root ignorance, the seed of separation and the source of all conflict, prejudice, and pain.

If this seems radical, test it. Can you find a part of yourself that is permanent, independent, and separate from everything else? Can you find where your body or mind ends and the universe begins? You won’t. And neither can you find this in anyone else.

Harming the Mirror.

When we hold racist thoughts or act with racial prejudice, we think we are harming someone else. But from the view of nonduality (the undisputed facts of existence) , we are only lashing out one of many reflection of ourselves. The same consciousness, the same essence that animates your body animates the one you judge. There is no boundary there—just a projection created by a confused mind.

Racism, then, is not just unjust. It is a deep confusion about reality. It is like your left hand attacking your right hand because you mistook it for a threat. This confusion leads to suffering—not just for those we harm, but for ourselves. The division we create in our minds splits us from our own wholeness. It breeds fear, guilt, and an endless cycle of inner conflict.

And all of it is based on a falsehood.

The Role of the Mind

This illusion is not an accident—it’s the unexamined mind’s default setting. The mind sees forms and instantly labels them: “me,” “you,” “Black,” “White,” “friend,” “enemy.” Then it believes its own labels. This process is so fast and unconscious that we mistake these thoughts for reality. The body you call “me” and the one you call “other” are made of the same universal ingredients, shaped by the same forces, and animated by the same source without a trace of individual essence.. No label can change this facts. When we take labels to be fact, we divide what has never been divisible or separate from anything.

Labels are not inherently harmful. We need them to navigate the world. But when we forget that they are only mental constructs, we take them as facts—and the moment we do, we divide reality into false categories. We live in a world of “us” and “them,” all the while hurting ourselves without knowing it.

Nonduality as Healing.

The facts of nonduality—of shared essence and indivisible reality—are not abstract ideas. They are medicine for a sick world. They are how we heal racism at its root: not by merely reforming behavior, but by waking up from a false dream of separation.

To truly end racism, we must go beyond “I should not be racist,” to “I literally cannot be racist—because there is no ‘other’ to be racist toward.” This realization doesn’t make us passive. It makes us profoundly responsible. When you harm another, you harm yourself. When you lift another, you lift yourself. There is only one of us here.

When this is seen—not just believed, but seen directly—compassion arises naturally. Justice becomes an extension of wisdom, not just a moral code. And peace is not something we hope for; it is something we embody.

A Call to Look Deeper.

It’s time to go beyond surface-level conversations about race and identity. These are important starting points, but they must lead us somewhere deeper: to the truth of what we are, t to reality itself. That truth is not Black or White. It is not male or female. It is not Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything the mind can label. It is beyond name and form. It is the unchanging presence in which all forms rise and fall to arise again, perpetually without a findable beginning.

When we know this—not just intellectually, but as a lived reality—racism becomes impossible. Not because we suppress it, but because there is no longer anyone else to be racist toward. There is only the one life, looking through many eyes, appearing in many shapes, but always the same in essence and origin.

Conclusion: The End of Separation and Racism.

To live in racism is to live in a painful delusion. But the way out is clear and present: look honestly. See through labels and let go of them. See what remains. Discover that what you took to be “other” was always yourself in disguise.

Racism is self-harm. It is a blow on the wholeness of life dealt by a confused mind to its own reflection. But that confusion can end. And healing begins when we accept the facts: there is not other but myself appearing as others due to my ignorance.

There is only you. And you are not who you used to think.