STRENGTH THROUGH UNITY

When I think of the word ‘strength’, my mind is often plagued by the connotations presented to me from a Western perspective. When I see through this lens, be it physical, emotional, or mental strength, I come to associate it with being attached to the individual. That to be ‘strong’ is an independent endeavour, and that ‘power’ itself is something to be manifested by a single being. I’ve come to realise that such a definition feeds into an egocentric mentality - an expression of Western individualism that comes to further divide us.

Perhaps then, it is worth reinterpreting the word itself - to see it from a more shared and intersubjective perspective. What if we came to understand power not as something to be owned, possessed, and dominated by an individual, but rather an entity that is instead birthed through our unity.
That perhaps in an environment that engenders greed, competition, and a thirst for power, our true strength is expressed through one another. That when we live in solidarity, cooperation, and dissolve the imaginary borders that divide us, perhaps only then can we become truly powerful.

Weakness then is when we reduce and seek power only to ourselves. That when divisions come to define us, we are all rendered weak. Even if it appears that we hold power, it seems that power itself holds us - suffocated by its grip as it puppeteers our actions.

And such a philosophy is expressed through these images. That only when we come together does power become apparent - that when we divide and break from one another, true strength is lost as well. For the crown can only exist in our unity.