So We’re Interconnected, So What?
by Marianne Rowe
"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."
—attributed to Chief Seattle, 1855
The data is in…and it keeps coming
We are connected to all beings of the world and to all the elements of the universe.
As the wisdom teachings have been telling us for thousands of years, the sciences are showing us now. We have the means of measuring what occurs at very, very tiny levels and at very, very great distances.
In her book, Cosmic Hologram, cosmologist and physicist Jude Currivan states, “No subsystem, whether an elementary particle, a person, a planet, or a galactic cluster within our Universe, is or can be completely isolated. Everything at all scales of existence is being progressively discovered to be inherently related by in-formational content, flows, and processes.”
Basically, the more we sense through our personal, as well as collective, consciousness and through our technological measurements, the more we realize our relatedness to everything and everybody.
As we begin to face and accept the reality of being a drop in the ocean of Totality, it serves us (and All) to re-examine some assumptions and look more closely at what our being a human being means.
The bad news is:
Not only what we do, but what we say and, perhaps, even think impacts ourselves…and all else.
We have much more responsibility than we ever imagined.
“I am larger, better than I thought.”
—Walt Whitman
The good news is:
Not only what we do, but what we say and, perhaps, even think impacts ourselves…and all else.
We have much more efficacy than we ever imagined.
Again, “Papa Walt’s” insight comes to mind.
But wait! There’s more good news:
We don’t have to do all the paddling as we make our way through this journey of Life.
There is support for us, if we let ourselves access it. There is a current we can ride, if we let ourselves go with the flow.
Often, if we let ourselves be still and quiet, we can drop into hearing what is calling us, as well as sensing the support that is always, already here.
We don’t have to figure it all out ourselves.
We can honor diversity with a recognition that complexity in any system can expand our perspective and sense of meaning when it is respected as a healthy component of the system.
In his article, “Why is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares,” Anup Shah provides a concise overview of how bio-diversity in an ecological system serves the system’s productivity, sustainability and resilience, as well as a glimpse of what we can learn from how these systems work together.
In this same way, consciousness of the value of all components of our global and even universal system serves both the individual and the totality. When we open to and engage curiosity with what is beyond our own point of view, we discover untapped resources for creativity, compassion and caring, as we expand our understanding and we access more dimensions of solving problems.
We are surrounded by guidance and teachings from all humans and from all beings.
As philosopher Ken Wilber states, “Every perspective has a piece of the truth.”
We don’t walk around in the delusion of separation
Clearly, the more we are in alignment with what’s true, the more easily things will go and the more at-ease (and peaceful) we will feel.
All beings want to be safe and comfortable (thus, avoiding that which is considered dangerous or distressing). We exist in a shared humanity of wanting to feel content (thus, throughout the ages and cultures of humankind, searching for the answers to the questions that arise about the how’s and why’s of life). Recognizing these two truths, we realize the depth of what we have in common.
And then…
We recognize (and are comforted by the fact) that we are not alone
Jacques Cousteau said, “People protect what they love.”
People hunger to feel connected and to be part of something that makes a difference.
What if we felt that all beings, starting with ourselves, mattered? What if we could sense the inter-being of all things? What if we could access the Totality of who we are?
As we expand our spheres of caring from ourselves to our family or tribe to all humans to all beings— from personal to global to universal— we cultivate a profound sense of belonging.
“A person experiences life as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. Our task must be to free ourselves from this self-imposed prison, and through compassion, to find the reality of oneness.”
—Albert Einstein
‘Nuff said.
For a deep dive into experiencing the fields of connection with ourselves, each other, and, well … everything, please join us for “Awakening to Interconnection: A Paradigm Shift for Conscious Evolution." In this three-day, oceanside retreat, we will engage meditation, mindful inquiry, ceremony, movement, relational and nature practices in service of cultivating consciousness and transformation. Registration deadline is March 19.