An interesting study has been conducted, which reveals that couples are less likely to collide into others. The caveat is that if they have a child, the likelihood increases of crashing into people.
Before I go deeper into the subject what is a couple in today’s terminology. A couple is described as being of the same sex, or male female, or non-binary, or a few people. To understand how relationships between people can affect how they move in a crowd, scientists from three universities in Japan studied the footage in two public spaces. They observed that closer the bond between the persons, the fewer the collisions. The stronger the bond between the couple, the lesser the collisions unless there was a child in the mix. Children made the group dynamic and amoebic.
Well, after reading this bit of research, I came to my own conclusions. How is it that there are no collisions when one is attending Satsang or church? There are no collisions when one is standing in a line for a buffet. I was thinking of the dining room in Yoga Vidya. Then I thought of when one goes to a temple for darshan in Bharat, sometimes there are hundreds of people in the line. Nobody is pushing or bumping. If it happens it is accidental and not intentional. One is united by one thought and that is one should be able to have an audience with the deity. Therefore, it is the thought which is guiding one.
Crowds which are not united by a common thought have the desire to push and shove. Look at the lines for a concert, it can go two ways, either to push or to be calm.
The takeaway from the blog was that one should be a couple. I think that if one is motivated by the same thought, then collisions will not occur. I remember when my sons were 4 years old, we were taking care of our friends’ dog (Labrador) while they were on holiday. We would go for walks with the children and the dog. The dog wanted to walk by my side, and he would push the children. We all love dogs but the way he pushed the boys, was really funny.
Throughout the walk this would happen. Maybe one needs to do research also in this area. The dog may have felt more secure being next to me, and not near one of the boys. Maybe the dog was possessive about me, and he considered him and me a couple. Incidentally were taking him without a leash. Also, we were a group, the boys and me. However, this behavior did not happen when we had our own dogs (dachshunds).
Give it a thought and observe the collisions which happen with you.
Aim Hrim Klim
Photo by Henrique Ferreira on Unsplash