Border Security Insanity
We’ve heard the phrase, “how do ‘you’ not have a county if ‘you’ don’t have borders?” in many variants — let’s not belabor the sentiment by a cacophony of repetition. This short reflection is not even, in particular, about the current political drama being played out in America, UK, Germany or a long list of other so called nation states (or in the case of, say, Palestine a beleaguered nation culture only partly recognized and more surrounded than bordered).
It is just a musing on the concept as projected by we humans and where we are as a matter of psyche.
It is problematic to imagine a culture that would attempt to organize an exclusive membership then draw a boundary if there was not first an emphasis on self awareness, self-promotion and ego. In America, as an example, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Navajo and Sioux nations existed without clear documented borders. As an aside they have continued to exist even in the face of genocide and subordination. Culture and values can make for a lot more rational organization than GPS coordinates.
The whole idea of a boundary is an explicit statement that “I” am separate not only from others but also from nature and my ego’s perception and my definition of it. Of course the problem with our ego is that it doesn’t know what it doesn’t know — and what we don’t know can hurt us. Our ego wants to make up a story that it is running the show and is in control, pursuing a false premise — and that can be a unhealthy recipe leading to horrific behaviors and consequences. The objective measurable evidence lends no consistent validation to the absurd conviction of the ego’s suggestion it is running the show. Borrowing from a quote attributed to a famous mystic, can we make one of our hairs “black or white” or “by thought add to our height”? Does one among us really control our mortality?
Enablement, enmeshment and failing to establish personal boundaries have been ridden hard as causes for psychological dysfunction. Fair enough. Intimacy, empathy and deep trust are the paradoxical balancing ingredients for a full life. It’s seems it may be a delicate balance.
What’s the point? At any level — personal, neighborhood, city, nation …polemic, over simplified and fear fueled brandishing of border and boundary reinforcement can lead to consequences and costs that make the “problem” look like a paradise compared to it’s “cure”.
When someone it extends a hand it may be a gesture of a helping hand to help out, a gesture of goodwill of handshake, a gesture of asking for a hand out or an act of aggression of pushing the other party away. Our reactive interpretation says more about us than the other party. The point is, it’s probably better to keep things in context and seek calm mindful humble logic than project and assume motive, intent or assume inter-relational meaning that spins up self-manufactured mountains of imagination and corresponding need for reaction.
Remain calm. In the big picture of things we’re really not separate from anything and if we can be OK with that maybe our “right now”, “right this instant” level of gratitude and confidence can be higher and and our level of anxiety and fear a little lower.
