Markos Awareness...

A greek ex-student of mine Markos now living in Athens has send me an interesting post which I want to share in this blog. Here it is.......

I am Markos. I am a Greek man of 45, with an English mother and diabetes who lives near the new Acropolis museum in Athens. I am a businessman who used to go to Innergy and is now looking to buy a house for his young family in Athens. I am a person of above average height, mathematical background, no musical ear, an investment in a photo-voltaic energy project, one tooth filling and a small mole on my left cheek. 

Each of the sentences above answers the question “Who Am I?”.  All of them are true and each defines me uniquely. But each of these perfectly acceptable answers also limits me terribly. After all, "to be defined" literally means "to be limited". With each successive description or defining characteristic “I” am being shoved into ever smaller and more cramped boxes.  We all know from experience that humans love to belong to groups and be identified with them – football teams, religions, schools, wearers of a certain brand of shoe. Belonging to these groups gives us a sense of inclusion and belonging – but of course by default they also create exclusion, of everybody else.

Think of it another way. Each of my answers above describing “me” also tell us who I am NOT. I am not Swiss, I am not a woman, I do not have a Greek mother, I am not care-free about my sugar levels and I am not a resident of Rome.  Suddenly it doesn’t sound so good.

All of us who have spent any Friday evenings at Innergy (oops, another group to define oneself by!) can begin to appreciate that we do not need to cut ourselves off, do not need to limit ourselves, do not need to define ourselves. Why on earth should we or would we want to? With each breath we can therefore drop a label, escape from the constriction of yet another box, and feel ourselves expand. Let me try it. One breath at a time. Do I feel any different on each line?

I am a Greek man of 45, with an English mother and diabetes who lives near the new Acropolis museum in Athens

I am a Greek man of 45, with an English mother and diabetes

I am a Greek man of 45, with an English mother

I am a Greek man of 45

I am a Greek man

I am a Greek

So far so good! It feels much freer and yet it’s still the good ol' same ol' me! And now for the "salto mortale", or final leap :

 

I am……..

 

Amazing! And I can actually go a step further and drop the I, giving:

 

Am,

am,

ammmmmmmmmm…..

 

Om Shanti