Let me ask you today to visualise something, please take a deep breathe and then read creating images in your mind: You are going to airport to catch a flight, you packed your bags and you are waiting for the taxi in your home building, a guard comes and says greets you, you greet back with a smile. The taxi arrives and you sit in the taxi and the cab driver asks you the OTP, you provide with that and you are taken to the airport, as you reach airport a porter comes and ask you for helping with the luggage you deny as you have less luggage and you move towards the entry gate of the airport. As you are entering the airport gate the security personnel checks your ID card, you smile and give your ID and then you are cleared to go inside the airport, you directly go to the security clearance and you clear the security. Now as you move towards the shopping arcade you had to pick a ‘pen’ from ‘shoppers stop‘ that you have identified earlier, you walk in and a sales representative walks towards you, you talk to them and tell what you are looking for and then you make the purchase the billing personnel clear the purchase and you move out. Now you reach the gate for boarding, the announcement is made and the staff supports you with the same and you enter the aircraft, the flight attendant , smiles & greets you and you also see the pilot also standing alongside smiling, you smile back and say hello and you move towards your seat – 11 A.

Now, let me ask you something, the guard of the building you imagined was a male or a female or any other gender , the taxi driver was a male or female or other, the porter that wanted to help was a male or a female or other, the security personnel was a male or female or other, the shoppers stop staff was a male or female or other, the flight attendant was a male or female or other and the last pilot was a male or female or other.

I know you must be either annoyed, frowning or smiling in awe, that is our conditioning that has made us think that ways, nothing is wrong or right in this. It’s Unconscious Bias.

This bias didn’t appear overnight. It is not an invention of one faulty school or a few narrow-minded families. It is generational. It has been handed down like a family heirloom — not always with malice, but with ignorance, tradition, and the blind comfort of conformity.

From the moment we entered classrooms, we were told to follow rules, not question them. Boys were given leadership roles in classroom activities. Girls were encouraged to be “well-behaved” and “quiet”. History books glorified kings but skimmed over queens — unless they were exceptions. Science textbooks rarely mentioned women inventors or LGBTQ+ scientists. Literature curriculum subtly portrayed women as emotional beings needing rescue and men as rational, heroic saviors.

What we didn’t realize as children is that curriculums are cultural constructs. Parents and teachers — the first influencers in our lives — repeated the patterns they were raised with. Not because they hated women or gender-diverse people, but because they never questioned the systems they were part of. This is how unconscious bias becomes systemic. Not through conspiracy, but through complacency.

Then Gen Z emerged as a new wave. Equipped with the internet, international visibility, and access to a variety of stories, they started to enquire. “Why does this chapter only contain male gods?” “How come I can’t wear this and still be respected?” “Why do people disregard my mental health as a sign of weakness?” “Why does our syllabus lack any queer characters?” “Why should I abide by rules that don’t seem correct to me?”
Most of us stigmatised them rather than praised their curiosity.
We labelled them entitled, preoccupied, and sensitive.

However, what if their inquiry is a spiritual awakening rather than a weakness?

In many spiritual paths, the first step to awakening is detachment — the ability to look at our beliefs, thoughts, and patterns from a distance, without clinging to them.

Questioning is detachment..

When Gen Z asks “Why?”, they are not just rebelling. They are breaking centuries-old chains of unconscious bias, silently wrapped in the fabric of our homes and classrooms.

Unconscious bias is not just a social problem; it is a spiritual one. Because the moment we stop questioning, we stop growing. And when we silence a generation of questioners, we stall humanity’s journey toward freedom and truth.

By unlearning what was taught and listening to the voices that challenge our comfort, we step into a new world — one not built on hierarchy, but on harmony.