On tribe-ing in boxes

As we wander from a room to another, we become a part of one tribe, then another. We begin the morning waking up from our own personal box and into the wider world, a world of wonder and numerous possibilities (if it’s a holiday with no plans, even more so). A world, where we co-exist with beings, who can not quite communicate with us, but add to the beauty with their own chirping and swaying and strewing different gradients of colour on a wide canvas throughout days and months and years, which one can appreciate only if one slows down to perceive.

In this setting of a larger background that’s evolved naturally, have we built our own boxes to travel to. Different hours of the day, different days of the week, different days of the year. We travel to our own workplaces, in a group, in public transport, in private vehicles on roads, walk on (sometimes non-existent) pavements, all towards their own destinations, but with the same purpose, to get somewhere. A tribe of going places.

We all have our own workplaces - large office buildings, cafes, small co-working spaces, small office floors. We move around with numerous thoughts and actions branching out throughout the day, but all towards a bigger goal. In the large structure of a workplace, we move from one room to another, assuming a role in each, assuming different persona and sauntering through varied conscious states of mind. A tribe of getting things done.

We run and jog in parks; we sweat it out together in group workouts; we dance it out with synchronised movements; we pedal towards conquering those distances; we hike towards surmounting peaks. A tribe of exploring the limits of the human body.

We enter structures of squares and rectangles (and spheres?) to relish the human concoctions of various flavours. All towards a singular cuisine or an appreciation of a similar aesthetic or the cherishing of a similar set of flavours. More compartmentalisation into tables of squares and rectangles (and spheres?). A tribe of relishing craft.

We receive invites and traverse into a beautifully crafted space of another, where we meet people assembled from their own respective personal boxes. We spend evenings chatting, sharing food and drinks with many stories and laughs, willing together to stitch together enjoyable moments into the quantum of time, and spin them into memories. A tribe of growing into more, in quantity and quality.

Tribes everywhere, single-streams and multi-streams. How we adapt and mould to people and groups, in a non-verbal, synchronous dance. How have we ascended the hierarchy of needs to imagine and create, with cognitive sparks turned into material substances. And how we pursue and peruse, with thoughts morphing in colour and shape, from one tribe to another.