Interconnectedness:
The Open Secret
Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.
– Leonardo da Vinci
Our universe is vastly and intrinsically interconnected. We are all connected to and interdependent with one another. Nothing and no one is truly isolated from anything or anybody else. Moreover, our interconnected natural world is imbued with creative intelligence at every level. Recognizing our fundamental interconnectedness is the basis for truly understanding life and is essential to overcoming the divisiveness and willful ignorance that threatens the progress and flourishing of civilization.
This inherent interconnectedness of all humanity, the natural world, and the whole of the physical universe has been recognized, researched and substantiated over the past century in virtually every relevant field of science and the humanities, from quantum physics and biology to ecology, anthropology and sociology. There is little if any serious scholarly or scientific debate about this.
Our deep-rooted interrelatedness has long been recognized and honored by indigenous cultures as well. This David Abram essay, On Deep Ethics, is one of the most eloquent statements of this ancient knowing I have ever encountered.
Despite this wisdom confirmed by authoritative sources, both ancient and modern, our intrinsic interconnectedness has not been generally understood or valued in our social, political, educational or economic systems, nor in the perspectives we hold and the choices we make as individuals. The reasons for this glaring ignorance of accepted knowledge constitute a subject in its own right, and I would argue that the maintenance of existing power structures is high on the list (think divide and conquer). Whatever the causes, the debilitating but rectifiable lack of awareness of our inescapable interconnectedness is the underlying cause of virtually every problem we collectively face today, from ecological destruction to sociopolitical polarization.
The widely held belief that we are separate individuals in an intrinsically competitive world also underlies the growing incidence of loneliness, isolation, depression, and loss of meaning and purpose in our personal lives.
Our interconnectedness has enormous ramifications and implications – both generally and specifically to the work of waking up to our common inner core. The key to our healing is to not only recognize the fact our interconnectedness, but to sense and feel that connectedness.
This is just a brief introduction. More to come.
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