If we are honest, we are all other – multiplex, complex – carrying some form of the shadow, and lacking belonging to family, partner, group or self.

Belonging is not only a question of place. It replicates similar dynamics appearing in relationships of self to self, and self to others.

The desire to belong stretches us to be without judgment. We need to address the opposite and consider the possibilities that exist in the other. If we let ourselves be surprised and open, the unknown parts of the other and ourselves are enhanced in beauty and form.

The lecture also offers a case study of a Hispanic man born in the USA but experiencing prejudice. It shares a common narrative of the pressures of wanting to belong, and how it clashes with our desire to be rooted in both the mainstream and in our culture.