“I think the world is big enough for everybody.” Chef Asma Khan
Do you think that? Is the world big enough for everybody? I heard that line during an episode of Chef’s Table on Netflix. Chef Khan is a London chef who grew up in India. When she said those words, I had to pause the show and make a note in my phone because it seemed so simple and profound at the same time. Maybe this line seems so evident that you are wondering why I am making a big deal out of it.
And, in some ways, it is an obvious truth. But here is something else I believe to be true, and it is important. Not every person agrees that the world is big enough for everyone. And I think that is a root cause for many of the struggles we now face. When you look at just how divided humanity has become, we might be able to say that the dividing line is between those who think the world is a big open place to which all are invited and those who think the world is a private club just for those who they agree with.
Pick an issue and think about in these terms and see if there is anything to it. Racial injustice. Pandemic. Gay rights. Economic disparity. Climate change. I think you find it in all of them.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the problems with dualistic thinking, which forces every issue or person into one of two boxes. That kind of thinking is limiting by its very nature, and it leads to the idea that there is good and bad, right and wrong, only one or the other. It is all or nothing, us verses them, with very little grace offered or accepted. It can lead one to think that the world is, in fact, not really big enough for everybody. At least it is not big enough to allow those “others,” whoever they may be, to occupy any of it.
But if we can open our minds and expand our thinking and embrace our common humanity…then we might be able to experience genuine change. And we would recognize that there is plenty of room for us all, and I am not just speaking about physical space. The world is a big place, the universe is vast, why would we want to shrink it down and miss the mystery and the joy that can be ours together?
And it seems to me, that the more this becomes our experience, and the more we come to understand and appreciate our sisters and brothers here, the big enough world may not seem so big after all; it may seem just about right.