Interconnection

My apologies for long and sporadic posting this week - I'm trying to catch up on everything that was left undone while I was ill. Hopefully all will be back to normal (normal being as relative as it is...) next week.

I was pondering the other day the nature of the concepts “world” and “universe” – as one does… But seriously… I was thinking about the interconnectedness of all things, of ourselves as part of each other and of the far greater whole that extends beyond this world and out into the far reaches of infinity. And I thought then of how much we are a microcosm of the macrocosm, a part of the greater whole, our own bodies small worlds within themselves, every bit interconnected, related to, part of the other bits.
And all this made me ponder the nature of what holds us together, what sets us apart, how some of us view ourselves as interconnected and others, well, just don’t. Those others seem to view themselves as set apart – okay, maybe a part of other small, independent whole - perhaps a distinct group or race or class – but still separate from the greater body of humanity. Of course, at this point my toes lose the edge of the lake and I find myself plummeting into colder, deeper waters, contemplating things like the war in Iraq, the riots in Paris, the new corporate “superpowers”, the original response to the English teacher in the Sudan… Suddenly the list becomes endless and it begins to strike me that we are always at each others throats. And then I realize that I have strayed from where I started, the miracle of interconnectedness – and all because those who remain unconscious manage to clamour for and gain attention on our TV screens and in our newspapers. And they all seem bound together by manmade, rather than “God” inspired ideas. (I use the term “God” in its loosest sense. I do not refer to some biblical god – rather to the greater creative/divine energy.) So, I drag myself back to where I started… the concept of worlds, ourselves as small worlds. I like the idea because it points out, it seems to me, the reality of our place in the greater reality – as I said, small parts of the whole. And then, as it does, the clip below popped into my mail box and I though, “ah, yes, see, now that just sums it up perfectly.” Our bodies are miniatures of the universal whole and who, considering that, can possibly say that we are not all interconnected, that everything in the universe is not interconnected, that what one does, impacts upon another. That all things are in balance and that a greater wisdom, consciousness, drives it all.

And then I remembered I'd written something like this in one of my many notebooks early last month... clearly the subject is much on my mind...

Think of yourself... you are a world - as is your family and your home. And there is our world - a whole - a mass of energetically integrated organisms and life-forms. I wonder how many see it that way though?

Think of your home, your family, yourself - all worlds in their own right - connected, interconnected, functioning interdependently.

Consider this: you cut your toe, it bleeds and it hurts. The pain runs through your entire being courtesy of a multitude of neurotransmitters firing off alarms. Your mouth, your vocal chords echo the pain. Your body's defense mechanisms spring into action to prevent infection. The clotting mechanisms kick in to ensure the cessation of blood flow. Your hands, on the ends of your arms, reach out to tend the injury. The cells within the tissues, your skin, go to work to close the gash. Everything, every bit of you, functions together to heal the wound - and ensure the well-being, not just of your toe but of your entire being.

The same might apply to your family or your home. Your brother may need help. The family rally round to offer support - it may be financial or emotional or practical. Or, your roof springs a leak - you don't leave it (I hope!), you get up there and fix it or call someone in to do it, because not doing so would mean damaged timbers, sodden carpets, wrecked furniture. You treat your home as an extension of yourself - your world - you protect it because in doing so you ensure your own well being.

So, if we think then of the world we live in, planet Earth - we live in it, or so we should, in the same way. We should tend it, just as we tend ourselves, our family and our home. Because it is part of us and we are part of it in the same way. This part interconnected with that. That part reliant on this. Something goes wrong in the east, the west rushes to help. One place experiences a tsunami or an earthquake, another place sends help. Discontent in one part, affects another part. Injury to one place impacts upon some other place.

The trouble is though we don't treat the world as though all is interconnected. Too many of us, tiny worlds in our own right, ignore the plight of another part. Too many of us turn a blind eye to the pain experienced elsewhere - in fact, still worse, there are those of us who actively set out to create dissent, pain and destruction - as though we would willingly cut off our own foot, or poison ourselves, burn ourselves, mutilate ourselves. Consider what we think of those who do such things... consider those of us who do those things to the world - our world. Generally, most of us don't treat ourselves with such self hatred, such lack of love and respect. So why do some of us treat our world in this way. Are not all of us not part of it? Is it not part of all of us? Do we not collectively rely on every part of our world so that it and we function as a whole?

What kind of strange species have some of us mutated into that literal self-destruction has become a core objective? Sure some may gain personal wealth to ensure better healthcare for that cut toe but if some are allowed to continue in this way - and they encourage others to imitate them in a continual praise of Mammon - all that accumulated wealth will be of no use as the world, our world, the place where we stand, where we build our homes and create our families, slowly crumbles away. It is time all of us realised that we are not separate - nothing is. All is one.


The images used here are reflections - but which is truly which, or is one element part of the other? Are they trees, or trees reflected on a granite surface - or is just granite. Is it a painting, or the garden reflected in a painting... Or a painting of a garden? Consider beyond the obvious.