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CONNECTIONS AS THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MEANING
Rugged individualism .... Finding oneself .... The Me generation .... "I am the master of my fate" ....
We know the theme. One will only find true meaning in life if one is able to differentiate oneself.
To stand alone. That becomes the goal.
But, this flies in the face of what so many of us are experiencing. If we are truly standing alone, then why are we discovering communication across the bridge between life and death?
This is just one of the many indicators that point us toward a larger understanding: life is about connections, not about differences.
Let's look at some of those indicators.
In all of the religious philosophies I have studied, there is a notion of the totality and ultimate unity of the creative force or spirit. All that exists, exists within and from that primal source. In other words, nothing exists that is not part of "creation". Nothing stands alone, in this sense. We, as part of that creation, are intrinsically connected to all else that was, is, or ever shall be simply by existing. We cannot separate ourselves from that reality, even if we tried. We are essentially all connected by creation.
There are other undeniable bonds as well.
In our gene pool there flows a connection to generations past, present, and future. As we become increasingly aware, the building blocks of our living show our connection, not simply back to our own trail of ancestors, but also ultimately back to a heritage of some single set of ancestors shared by us all. We are physically all connected by heredity.
For as long as human beings have been communicative, we have been asking questions. From the sentiments in the ancient cave paintings to the queries in the most modern interviews, we have been asking the same questions. "What does it mean to be alive?", "How shall I live?", "What does it mean to die?" We have this shared cultural history of questions. While many other cultural symbols divide us by races, religions, and nations, there is a common culture of inquiry. We are culturally all connected by our questions.
What we have glimpsed through our conversations with Rikkity is that we also have spiritual connections. We, each of us, are the abiding connections, or entities, of many less complex spiritual entities. They, in their turn, are combinations, connections, of even less complex spiritual entities. Our future is framed not in terms of physical death, but in terms of our own potential for connection into more complex spiritual entities. We will not fulfill what we are until we move into that connection. And (here's the kicker) the connection, the growing complexity, the larger spiritual entity of our fulfillment may well contain other entities which appear quite different from us on this spiritual level.
The implications of this are challenging. One will not move into greater complexity by simply connecting with that which appears similar. One will move into greater complexity by finding meaningful, sustained connection with other entities of different, complementary natures. In other words, our whole spiritual future may rest on out ultimate ability to connect with other spiritual beings who now appear to be very different from us. As long as we focus on the differences, we keep ourselves from our own potential. We are spiritually all connected by our futures.
Essentially, physically, culturally, and spiritually, we are all connected.
How will we find the means and modes by which to incorporate this truth into ourselves, into our knowing and our living?
These series of lives are our opportunities to learn and remember just that: to focus on our connections, not our differences.
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