On this day of my mum’s birth, a woman torn between cultures, I am reminded of the deeply embedded way it isness of western culture. A relatively recent phenomenon bloomed by economic growth and ownership. Shaping ways to think and behave, ways to act and respond to another in public and in private. In the picture above you can see the differences in the ways deep culture can show up. This reminds me of all that may need to be masked in order to show up in the way this culture requires.
There is of course etiquette and a reverence of approach. A showing up that acknowledges some gratitude to the life we are given because of so many elements that can inform our behaviour. Maybe some of the differences shown here are a cultures response to that, a response that requires listening and care.
There are moments of choosing to follow another or a group to fit in, to copy behaviours, to mask something of the unique beauty that lies within. I notice often the concern of judgement if I might start singing in the street, whilst dancing around a tree for example... The fear of judgement and possible consequences are very real when I look at the history of the people that came before me. They would be imprisoned for dressing in the ways of their culture or moving around in groups or being on certain parts of the land to make offerings. The reasons to mask are real and require courage, learning and good people around to have a chance of shifting.
In the way I see things, culture making is listening and responding to the environment, to all the directions around, the sky above, earth below, what came before, what is to come and our relations at the sides. Listening requires sensitivity, to be touched by life in a way that life moves you. To reciprocate something, something that you have been given, with deeply embedded practices to remind humans of the necessity of this and to keep the focus there.
I don’t see sensitivity welcome in these times, in a culture that seems to strive on growth above all else, competency, knowledge without question and a numbness to surroundings. To move slowly and listen, to make mistakes, to question, to be wild, to make room for revelation is something that can be perceived as incompetent, dithery, weak, slow, not all there, mad, away with the fairies and I could say disabled. Is there a space for this type of person to be revered in a different way? To be seen as showing this culture a different way of doing things? Do you give space for this with those around you?
From what is seen In the picture, is there a place for difference in deep culture to show up here within the cracks of the one I find myself in? Is the deep culture within all of us showing up in the cracks?
In my learning about neurodivergence, I see a lot of the difference in communication styles showing up here, also difference in concepts and notions. Can the prevalence of neurodivergence be seen as a movement towards a more listening culture? A culture where different ways of living can be seen as needed for us to learn how to live alongside our relations. Do we need more than ever to see sensitive bodies as needed and essential for the changes in the constructs of what defines a culture?
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