About countries, borders & prejudice – and about realising that the lines on maps are not there naturally but have been created by people.

Countries, borders, visas, laws – when travelling, we often ask ourselves why we have to deal with so much bureaucracy when all we want to do is enter certain landscapes on our planet, admire their beauty and get to know the people who live there.
Borders, lines on maps so to speak, provide structure and security, but they also serve certain images and prejudices.
Prejudice is a phenomenon from social psychology and is a so-called perceptual error. One single glance at a person is often enough for us to think we can form a detailed picture of them. This does help us to organise our impressions amidst the sensory overload of everyday life and gives us a sense of orientation and security. However, relying solely on such an impression without reflecting on it can lead to serious misjudgements.
Here are a few examples: have you ever met someone who was totally unappealing to you at first, but who turned out to be warm-hearted and humorous when you got to know them better? Or, conversely, did someone who you initially thought was very nice and suited you turn out to be a person with values that completely contradicted your own? You can also try experiments about first impressions and prejudices in relation to countries, borders and cultures: what image do you, for example, have in your head of a ‘German’, an ‘Indian’ or an ‘American’? What feelings come up in your mind? Explore what differences you feel when you think of someone as ‘Indian’ or as a ‘person who lives in India’?
About countries, borders & prejudice! Let’s realise that the lines on the map are not there naturally – they have been created by human beings to draw borders. How different would it feel to see our world as a whole, with just the natural beauty of the land and the uniqueness of the people who live there?
Have you ever found your first impression to be wrong? Or have you ever managed to overcome a prejudice and see the person in question in a totally different light?
Let’s talk about it in a free initial session!
#borders #prejudices #travelling
