Where Is Home? | Pico Iyer | TED

Key Concepts:

• Identity and belonging in a globalized world
• The evolving definition of "home"
• The impact of movement and travel on personal identity
• The importance of stillness and reflection
• Finding home within oneself

1. The Speaker's Complex Identity:

• The speaker illustrates the complexity of answering "Where do you come from?" by dissecting the question into different interpretations: ancestry (India), upbringing (England), residency and taxation (United States), and emotional connection (Japan).
• He emphasizes that while his ancestry is 100% Indian, he has never lived in India. He was raised in England but never felt like a typical Englishman. He has lived in the US for 48 years but still feels like an alien. He feels most at home in Japan but is only there on a tourist visa.
• This personal anecdote serves as an introduction to the broader theme of shifting identities in a globalized world.

2. The Shifting Definition of Home:

• The speaker observes that younger generations have even more complex and fluid identities, with multiple homes associated with family, partners, current location, and aspirations.
• He argues that "home" is becoming less about a physical place and more about a state of mind or a feeling of belonging.
• He states, "Home for them is really a work in progress. It's like a project on which they're constantly adding upgrades and improvements and corrections."
• He suggests that home is now more about "a piece of soul" than "a piece of soil."

3. The Loss of a Physical Home and Finding Home Within:

• The speaker recounts the experience of losing his home in a California wildfire, losing all his possessions except for a toothbrush.
• This experience forced him to confront the idea that home is not a physical structure but something carried within oneself.
• He states, "My home would have to be whatever I carried around inside me."
• He views this realization as a "terrific liberation," allowing individuals to choose their sense of home, community, and self.

4. Globalization and the Rise of the "Floating Tribe":

• The speaker highlights the increasing number of people living outside their birth countries, citing a figure of 220 million.
• He refers to this group as a "great floating tribe," larger than the populations of Canada and Australia combined, doubled.
• He notes that the number of people living outside the old nation-state categories is rapidly increasing, soon to outnumber Americans.
• He uses Toronto as an example, where the average resident is a "foreigner."

5. Travel, Awareness, and New Perspectives:

• The speaker equates travel to being in love, heightening one's senses and awareness of the world.
• He quotes Marcel Proust: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new sights, but in looking with new eyes."
• He suggests that encountering the "foreign" awakens us and prevents us from taking things for granted.

6. The Emergence of a Global Culture:

• The speaker describes a hypothetical encounter between a half-Korean, half-German woman in Paris and a half-Thai, half-Canadian man in Edinburgh.
• He suggests that they would recognize each other as "kin" and have more in common than with people solely from their respective ancestral countries.
• He envisions their child as a blend of all those cultures, representing a new, evolving global identity.
• He concludes that "Where you come from now is much less important than where you're going."

7. The Importance of Stillness and Reflection:

• The speaker acknowledges the challenges of maintaining one's bearings amidst constant movement.
• He shares his experience of finding solace and clarity at a Catholic hermitage, despite his initial skepticism.
• He emphasizes the importance of stillness for gaining perspective and making critical decisions.
• He quotes Seneca: "That man is poor not who has little but who hankers after more."
• He argues that "it's only by stopping movement that you can see where to go" and "it's only by stepping out of your life and the world that you can see what you most deeply care about and find a home."

8. Practical Applications of Stillness:

• The speaker suggests practical ways to incorporate stillness into daily life, such as:
  • Sitting quietly for 30 minutes each morning without devices.
  • Going for a run every evening.
  • Leaving cell phones behind during conversations with friends.

9. Conclusion:

• The speaker concludes by emphasizing that movement is a privilege but only has meaning with a "home to go back to."
• He reiterates that home is not just a place to sleep but "the place where you stand," implying a sense of groundedness and self-awareness.

Synthesis/Conclusion:

The speech explores the evolving concept of "home" in an increasingly globalized and mobile world. It argues that traditional notions of home rooted in place and ancestry are becoming less relevant, replaced by a more fluid and personal sense of belonging. The speaker emphasizes the importance of finding home within oneself, cultivating stillness, and embracing the opportunities for connection and understanding that come with movement and cultural exchange. Ultimately, the speech encourages listeners to define "home" not by where they come from, but by where they choose to stand.