In lak’ ech, Hala ken

I don’t exist without you and you don’t exist without me. Therefore, you and I exist from relating, we exist from “us”.

According to various interpretations, Mayan people conceived the universe as a great unity where everything is related. The individuals, the community, the plants, the animals, the winds, and the spirits are united and nothing exists without the relationship to the other; everything is alive and everything is connected. That is why any action of one affects the other and that is why it is said that you are my other self. If I respect you, I’m respecting myself, and if I attack you, I’m attacking myself.

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