Shoes on, or shoes off inside?

You walk in your own front door.

Do the shoes come off, or do they stay on?

I know people in three tribes here.

The first tribe takes them off at the door every time, and expects you to do the same.

There is usually a rack, a basket, or a neat row of everybody’s shoes just inside. The house is the inside, the world is the outside, and the line between them is the doormat.

The second tribe takes their own off but would never ask a guest to.

Your feet, your business.

The third tribe wears shoes all day, inside and out, and cannot understand what the fuss is about.

The floor is a floor.

Now, plenty of this is culture and climate. Half the world has never worn a shoe past the front door, and the other half thinks bare feet at a dinner table is a scandal. But I think it tells you something else, and it is about thresholds.

The shoes off tribe keep a hard edge between out there and in here, and they need the inside to be clean of whatever the day walked through. The take mine off but never ask tribe hold the same line for themselves and refuse to hold it for anyone else, which is its own kind of generosity.

And the shoes on tribe do not really have an out there and an in here. Wherever they are is home, and they are ready to leave again at any moment.

None of them is wrong.

But every one of them is a small picture of how that person lets the world in. So, shoes on or shoes off, and is there a rack at your door?

There is more teaching like this in The Library, and every daily post is in Daily Posts. If you would like guidance on your own path, see Readings.