Similarities:
Family– the good , the bad, and the ugly
Relationships– loved ones create a space of full acceptance and love that becomes home
The senses– Our memories are deeply connected to the senses, especially smell. Smell is the most evocative and can often trigger deep experiences of the past. The images and feelings conjured by my classmates sensual memories always made me feel warm and loved.
Spiritual traditions- home is also found deep within. The physical world is a reflection of an inner world within each of us and therefore our physical home (with parents and family) also ties deeply with our spirituality. While many children , at some point, run far from the religion/spirituality of their parents , many ultimately return (in some shape or form).
Home moving with you- this idea felt conflicted within me. I travelled a lot and have lived outside of Canada (as an adult) for about half my life and , while I could make a life and become deeply intwined in other places, they would only be cheap imitations of the deep , unbreakable home of my childhood. Yet, I could take those memories with me and , often , appreciated home more when I was away.
History – home is the gateway to ancestors and generations gone by.
Sharing meals- Food , food, food. It is so much more than energy for the body. We are what we eat but also how we eat.
Stories- I related to home being expressed through story. Sometimes, descriptive reflections are limited in their reach. Stories can talk ( Chamberlain’s paradox )at levels that go a truth much deeper than the rational mind
Identity through discrimination- The Jewish people , ironically, have been strengthened by their enemies. The connection and sense of home that I feel around other Jews is based, to a large extent, on the challenges we have collectively (and individually faced).
Partner becoming home– I loved this image. People you love and truly share with can come closest to embodying the safety of home. Still, with partners you have to work at it and build that relationship, home just is.
It was extremely easy to connect to people’s descriptive stories of childhood home as , I believe, it is a concept that dwells somewhere within the collective unconscious. While we all experience different memories as children, the comfort and warmth of home is something we all have implanted in our psyche (maybe from the womb). Those early feelings become a part of us and become an archetype of comfort and safety throughout our lives. I believe that concept of “home” deep within us then becomes a major source of strength and support that can be tapped into in difficult times. That is why depriving children of safety as children (through abandonment, abuse, or neglect) can have such a deeply traumatic effect well into adulthood; the archetype has been corrupted at its roots and accessing that sense of safety is much more difficult.
Differences
Politics- It is not that politics doesn’t factor into my sense of home. I am aware of it at an intellectual level but real home , true home is not found in the mind it is found in the heart
Economics – Again, I recognize privilege and I recognize that poverty (and politics) play enormous roles in our fate I just want to believe, however, that home is state of being imparted to all at birth and , while it can be corrupted by an unjust world, that corruption is not its essence.
Land- I have a hard time connected home to a physical piece of land. Maybe because it evokes the fears mentioned above
Places traveled abroad can be home – I am not sure
Home is where the heart is- I think I would rather say that the heart is where the home is. the difference being that it we do not choose our home, it has chosen us….
Works Linked
Chamberlin, Edward. “Interview with J. Edward Chamberlin”. Writer’s Café. Web April 04 2013.
“Joseph Campbell and the Myth of the Hero’s Journey” https://academyofideas.com/2016/06/joseph-campbell-myth-of-the-heros-journey/