A box is a container we keep things in. When we organize our home, personal space and work place, we are basically putting things in boxes. We also use boxes to create personal boundaries: the things we like are inside the box, the things we don’t like are outside the box. Boxes put our life in order.
Although boxes help us organize our world, there are no boxes in nature. The world wasn’t delivered to us in a box. A box is always an imposition, a convenience, a fiction that works within certain limits. Boxes are necessary in the beginning. The surface of the egg protects the chick and allows it to develop. However, birth only takes place when the shell of the egg is broken. Imagine what would happen if the shell didn’t break, the chick would perish.
Boxes are like that. They protect us. They simplify things. They make the world small enough for us to call it our world. But everything needs to grow and when we take our boxes to be real, we inhibit growth; the egg becomes a prison.
When it comes to growth, we need a shelter, a home. A home is not an ironclad structure, but a space protected by walls with doors and windows that enable us to interact with the world. When embarking on an endeavour, we need to focus on the problem, to create boxes. But we also need doors and windows because like the life stirring within the egg or seed, everything needs room to grow.