We might lament the lengths that people go to to defend their belongings, to hold onto what belongs to them. But most of us also have things that we are determined not to lose, and prepared to protect.
What belongs to you that feels important that you hold on to?
One of the ways we humans bond is around a shared enemy—a military foe, a fire that must be put out, a social evil such as racial injustice. There are dangers to having an indemnified enemy, but also gifts, as we come together to fight what threatens us and our community.
What do you join with others to fight?
“We belong far less to where we’ve come from than where we want to go.”
―Franz Werfel
Where do you hope to belong?
The shadow side of belonging appears when our deepest sense of community and place comes into conflict with others’ deepest sense of community and place. Who belongs? becomes literally a matter of life and death, and the ways to choose life far from obvious.
When has your sense of belonging come into direct conflict with someone else’s? What did you do?
“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Where do you feel you belong because of a shared commitment to looking outward in the same direction?
