The Boundary
I started a 100-day drawing challenge to give my itchy hand a chance in expressing myself through art.
It's a 6-month challenge of trudging through demotivation, lack of time, and even questioning one's worth.
Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Day 100/100
Where does the Self End, and Everything Else Begin?
The last piece is a meditation of something that resonated in me and people close to me.
Where does the Self End, and Everything Else Begin?
Are you your family name? Your work? Your friends?
Who do you serve? Yourself? Others?
Where do you put yourself?
Where do you draw the line?
Where is the boundary?
Boundaries are interesting areas because they don’t just hold whatever it is inside, they prevent outside elements from coming in. Boundaries are selective. They discriminate.
As we age, we begin to put up boundaries. We construct mental walls. It makes sense - unlike babies that can absorb any information in this small little world, we start to go out and broaden our horizons.
How can we absorb the million bits of information we receive every second? The amount of information we receive is staggering, and we can’t process it. We have to block some of the input, or we overload.
However, it is interesting to note that as we grow into adolescence, it’s all about us, who we are, and what will happen to us in particular. Others play a minor role.
Over time, we discovered there was more than just ourselves.
Perhaps narcissists and sociopaths have never moved beyond a universe of just themselves and their needs and wants.
As we age, we find all those barriers breaking down.
We begin to let the world in.
Where the concept of YOU end and the world begins is a shifting threshold that is non-existent at birth, constructed in childhood, and moves outward with adulthood as we let the world in.
As the years pile up, it becomes more permeable. We can become less egotistical, less self-centered, but more importantly, less self-conscious.
This change can be painful, but it is necessary.
Perhaps the question is not about where, but when.
It's complicated.
But isn't life grand?
So many questions.