Each piece of land, each property in a town or city is a certain size with a certain colour wall surrounding it. Within these walls the workings of each family, business or organisation operates in unique ways. However, beneath all of the walls, fences, gates, roads and buildings, it is all just one big piece of land. Every town and city is ultimately just one piece of land. The whole world in fact, is just one giant sphere with a plethora of landscapes. It’s interesting to then consider how we draw arbitrary lines across the earth and assign one side to a group of people and the other side to another group of people, in very simplistic terms.
We then turn most of our focus inward and develop our world within those borders. We call ourselves certain names, create our own songs and design flags and rituals as part of our identity. This I think is a positve thing. Cultural identity is something that perhaps we need to feel. A certain amount of ego is perhaps healthy and gives us a sense of unity and well being.
If we zoom in and consider the family home as a microcosm of the larger outside world, we see similar patterns of identity; family names, values, ambitions and ways of behaving. These identities allow us to feel comfortable and give us a foundation on which to build our own unique story.
However, I think it is when we fail to see past the border, fail to recognise that we all live in the same neighbourhood but with different identities and beliefs, that we let our unity become potentially destructive. We then gather our forces to oppose the people on the other side because they are different, because we fear for the existence of our own identity. We forget that what seperates us is simply a border; a fundamentally imaginary line which allows us to enjoy our unique identities but which also divides us and acts as a catalyst to distort our feelings of compassion for our neighbours.
I suppose what im trying to say is that perhaps the walls around our homes, our places of work or even our countries are there for practical purposes and not to serve as a boundary confining your curiosity or your compassion within. The walls are there to make us feel safe and united, not necessarily to keep out the percieved enemy.
The earth and the sky run freely underneath, around and above all of the walls, gates and fences. Your imagination and your sense of connection with others do not have to be confined to the boundaries that physically surround you. We are not here for very long and there is only so much time to connect with those around you. Take a chance. Don’t let borders stand in your way.
Harmonise Yoga 