One Apple a Day #636 - Identity, maps and territory
"The map is not the territory" is a powerful metaphor coined by Alfred Korzybski to illustrates the differences between belief and reality, between an object and a representation of that object.
Often, maybe too often, we confuse maps with territories, our idea or model of something with the thing itself.
Last weekend I was immersed in a powerful workshop about identity and change. While I was meditating and reflecting, a compelling question surfaced in my awareness.
Is identity the map or the territory?
To answer that question, I began jotting down a few characteristics of both. The map, being a representation, is finite and partial. That makes it knowable and understandable. But there also can be many maps of the same territory.
On the other side, the territory is one, infinite and whole. That means we can never know it or understand it all. All these characteristics imply that it can be known only through one or more maps.
But a territory can be experienced and lived even if we don't have a map.
I like to think of my identity as the territory. One, infinite and whole.
I'm well aware that the only way to know me, it's through a map. Some of them I draw, others are created by others.
My writing is a sort of map of my territory. My work, my relationships, my stories. They are all maps.
We can only know someone through maps.
But, as it happens when we travel, to really experience a territory, we must lift our eyes from the maps and look around. We must explore with all our senses, we must connect, immerse our hands in the messiness of things.
It is only when we set all the maps aside that we can really experience the true identity of someone. Even if we won't be able to draw a map out of it.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash