In this physical universe everything is divided into categories and held within containers. A container is something that holds other things. A box, a bowl, a bottle, a car, a building, a parking garage are all examples of containers. These are more obvious containers but most people do not readily identify their body, a relationship, a job, a football field, or a tennis court as a container but they are. Our planet is a container for our lives, our solar system is a container for our planet, the galaxy is a container for our solar system, and the universe is a container for our galaxy and all galaxies–containers within containers, within containers. In other words, containers are everywhere and they hold the contents of everything in the universe. They hold the content via their boundaries, their edges, and their limits. You would think then that everyone would want to know more about how containers operate, what happens when they interact, when they are dysfunctional, when they are effective and helpful to everyone. That is not exactly so because people are distracted by content rather than looking at context but this will not bear fruit, ever.

Containers are both; content because they are contained by other containers and they are the context for the content within them. They have properties that govern them, rules or even laws that define them. Understanding these properties can help us to understand our world and our lives better. Although there are many aspects to this, let us look at some of the most critical ones. Containers come in different sizes that may be too big, too small or just right. Too big and too small have problems. Just right usually does not last because things have a way of changing over time. The container may have to grow or shrink to meet the changes. Perhaps a couple starts their relationship in a small but just right house. Three children later the house is way too small. They need a bigger one so they add on. Twenty years later they need a smaller house again because the children have left the nest. The house they are in is now too big but then along come grandchildren and it is again just right. This is life.

The boundaries of the container may be thin and porous or built like a fortress with no access and no exit like a dam without a spillway. This format or style of container is more like a prison and is problematic when the rains come. Containers are more functional when they have an inlet and an outlet. When something is a good container, it has strong boundaries but it also has fluidity, an ingress and egress like a teapot, a border between peaceful countries, a relationship that allows for each party to have other friends and hobbies. This applies to countries, governments, political parties, religions, organizations, and so on. Rigid and fortress mentalities are a problem as is a loosey-goosey structure that introduces vagueness and lack of clarity and adds stress because no one knows what the rules or expectations are. 

Let’s look at rigid structures first. Rigid structures are dogmatic and authoritarian and in extreme cases they are fascist. In these structures there is hypervigilance, everyone is tracked, surveillance is everywhere and there are extreme consequences for breaking rules that may include exile, long prison terms, or execution. In a word they are extremely controlling. The majority of the people are controlled by a very small cabal that, out of fear of losing control, eliminates freedoms, expression, and choices. These structures or containers have predictable consequences for the bulk of people in them. 1. They are not fun, 2. They are extremely stressful, 3. They lack creativity and the arts disappear, 4. There is despair, fear, and desperation as members seek escape, 5. Opportunities dry up and 6. Corruption grows.

What makes for a rigid structure or a container that is too tight? This is a simple answer. It is fear; fear of them, they, enemies whether real or imagined. The fear runs both ways. Fear of outsiders and the fear of the enemy within. All are suspected of being the enemy. When fear is the dominant force in an organization the structure always shrinks and becomes small, tight, and rigid.

Let’s say you are in a grand, spacious hall and you are seated in a comfortable chair when suddenly a scorpion is crawling up your leg. No matter how big the hall is, when you notice the scorpion, the world shrinks to you and the scorpion. This is the way the human mind works because it is programmed to survive at all costs. Everything goes by the wayside when there is a real or imagined threat. We all become myopic under duress. Fear operates this way.

For younger, less developed souls, the support and rigidity of the swaddling, crib, or sandbox quiets their fears and gives them a temporary feeling of security. For older, more developed souls this becomes stifling setting into motion rebellion and a striving to get free. Conflict is practically inevitable. These are very different requirements. When a younger soul regime takes over and tightens down and removes choice and expression, this is cause for huge reaction. The younger souls feel safer and the older souls feel confined and oppressed. This is currently what we see in not only the United States but around the world. The polarization of the younger souls and the older souls, the less developed vs. the more developed. The younger souls feel unsafe and want the crib or the sandbox. The older souls want to explore the neighborhood beyond and eventually the whole world beyond. For the younger souls the notion of for example, woke-ism strikes fear in the heart because it represents a way of being in the world that feels too complex and inclusive of too much to process, as if everything were out of control. They feel the need for more rules, more law and order, fewer choices. They feel safer when someone takes charge and tells them what to do, who to be. If everything is included, then where are the guardrails, the guidelines, the known structure, the hierarchy that tells them where their place is? They say, “What a relief, now I know who the boss is (the king or queen) who can tell me who I am (the serf, the cannon fodder, the sheep).” Older souls look at this with horror because for them this is “Been there, done that and it’s not fun. I’m suffocating. Let me tell you who I am, not the other way around”.

Let us look for a moment at the too loose container. In the loosey-goosey container everything goes. The boundaries are porous and thin and it is difficult to tell what the priorities are. Everyone has a voice, every cause is given importance, even ones that are focused on a small percentage of people. This type of container is also run by fear. What if not everyone has a voice? What if someone is left out and suffers? This group says we need to emphasize climate change. Another group says, yes but Trans and gay rights should be a priority, and yet another group says, no it’s gender equality that is most important. So, no one knows what to budget for and what should be emphasized because everyone is clamoring for their own personal agendas. Because of this they don’t hold together and become dispersed. Farmers say “What about us?”, blue collar workers say “We need to be listened to!”, animal rights people say “We all need to be vegan!” and on and on. Some become extremely frustrated that a small group is garnering all the attention when other, bigger majorities are feeling ignored. This is more like a wild messy democracy where it’s hard to get focused because the boundaries are so porous and agendas are constantly getting lost in the shuffle. The younger souls go crazy with this. “Where is the dominant leadership we clamor for?”, they say. The consequences of this kind of container are: 1. There is more division and lack of focus, 2. There are lots of competing agendas, 3. The pace is extremely slow moving as everyone has to have a say, 4. The majority wish is sacrificed for small vocal minorities with radical agendas, 5. Teamwork is often diminished and 6. Priorities are scattered.

Both of these types of containers are dysfunctional. Neither one will ultimately work so we have just been going back and forth willy-nilly.  They are both going to go away and be replaced by something that resembles a middle road. Some freedoms will have to be compromised. The wish to dominate and control will be relinquished. Leadership will have to demonstrate strength and wisdom. Economics will serve the people but it will lose its place as the ultimate value. As the babies grow up they will be more comfortable with diversity. As the adults age they will discover that some strong container is needed and not everyone has to get their way right now. Sacrifices must be made. We are, after all, a family of souls, not warring factions. Time to grow up.