Photography in this theme would highlight how much we owe to others and continue to need the support and reassurance we relied on when we were younger. These photos will rehabilitate the idea of dependence.

Dependence Prompts: A photograph might…

• juxtapose our childhood needs and our adult needs
• explore deep-seated anxieties around individualism
• may show us the richness of life outside of work
• undermine the connection between outward success and virtue
• give expression to collective pride
• show our longing to belong to something
• explore our contributions toward interconnectivity
• show how the people dependent upon us
• show the people you are dependent upon
• show the tools, aids, work that go behind your competency
• undercut the reliance on ourselves alone
• show connectivity to a larger whole

To join in on Instagram, use hashtag #7Lenses #dependence and tag @7Lenses in the photo.

Excerpt from A Replacement for Religion on Dependence

 

We did not make ourselves unaided.
We are dependent creatures.
We’re loyal to a bigger understanding of our lives.

From the start, as children
We needed the kindess and help of others
And we still do.
We need the mercy of a second chance,
We need encouragement,
We need forgiveness because none of us
Can stand the serverest truths of who we are and
what we’ve done.

We can take pride in belonging to things bigger
than ourselves.
We can love what we belong to
Though it doesn’t just belong to us.
We can be proud of what others have done for us
And not only of what we’ve done for ourselves.

*Excerpts from Chapter 4 & Chapter 6 in “A Replacement for Religion” by The School of Life.