Yin & Yang…

The simplicity necessitated by a 4x4 camping trip is a motorised version of what Backpack Trails offer hikers. Rolling back all expectations of unnecessary luxuries and superfluous distractions make for a more powerful and visceral interface, allowing for introspective contemplation. 

North Gate in Moremi Botswana was our campsite for the night on this 2 week expedition and after a tough few days of travelling we were elated to arrive fairly early in the day.

Exhausted I flopped down supine, straight on the deep and soft pale Kalahari sand. 

The two massive Mopane trees between which our campsite was laid out towered over us as if to embrace our presence in a welcoming gesture.

Despite being in very close proximity, one was covered in ochre-like dead leaves and the other adorned with a coat of lush green, this made me think… 

From my vantage it seemed like a metaphorical representation of Good vs Evil…

Allowing my thoughts to drift along with the current, I considered that below the surface (and my back) the roots of each tree are likely intertwined and connected via some form of Mycorrhizal network and the two are not as separate as it may appear. Just because one is the antithesis of the other does not render them mutually exclusive. The idea that anything/anyone is either wholly good or evil, is an illusion which does our humanity a great disservice. These Mopanes became a proxy for the fact that every entity is a composite of both good as well as evil…yin and yang if you will. 

The misconception of a binary separation is culturally engrained and prompts unhealthy snap judgements and unnecessary prejudice.

Gathering my limbs and getting up to grab my camera, I made a conscious decision to not knee-jerkily ascribe the least generous interpretation to people’s actions. 

Being “good” is not the absence of evil, but the constant vigilance against and more regular triumph over it.

Yours in generosity,