Outside
the Box
“If
you don't get outside the box you've been raised in, you won't
understand how much bigger the world is.”
Angelina
Jolie
There
are so many boxes in this world. We humans think that boxes keep us
safe, so we jump into them and defend the walls against intrusion.
Boxes, such as politics, religion, gender, race, and socioeconomic
class tend to be static and constraining, regardless of where we fall
on the spectrum of each. Different ideas, unusual beliefs, unfamiliar
skin tones, unconventional manner of dress, trigger our safety
concerns, and we pull the box tighter around us. We all have our
boxes.
Getting
outside the box we were raised in feels risky—so many unknowns. We
have to adapt, and expand, and allow in strange notions of how things
might be done differently. I remember when I learned to cook. My
mother was a 1950's cook—we ate a lot of packaged foods; canned and
dried, oleo instead of butter. Most fresh vegetables and meats were
battered and fried, and the bread was made from cornmeal. That's what
I knew, and that's how I cooked. Along the way, I married someone who was taught to cook by a chemistry professor in college. Nothing
was battered and fried. Everything was fresh and cooked the least
amount possible. It was served on a tablecloth with candles and
flowers, with wine and yeasty bread. For the first year, nothing
seemed cooked enough for me. Broccoli and green beans weren't
supposed to crunch! Now, even though the “chemist” is gone from
my life, I eat the way I learned from him.
Outside
the box, we see that other ways of thinking and being are sometimes
better than our own. We learn, we improvise, we invent—it's hard to
do that inside a box. We don't have to come out all at once—it's
okay to cut a little hole and peek out for a while. But sooner or
later, if we want to experience the breadth, and depth, and fullness
of life, we must identify the boxes that constrain us, and open the
door to freedom.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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