On Connection

Is there any one thing, idea or possibility that all of life shares? I think there is, and I believe it is connection, the thread of everything that runs through everything. In our past as a species when we knew less about ourselves and life in general, we saw separation; we saw so much distinction that the element of connection seemed unthinkable. Nature itself belied connection with so many varied forms that suggested innate separation, and our religious beliefs thrust us even more into believers and non-believers, chosen and not chosen, ok and not ok.

"wised up"...

Over time we could say we have “wised up.” We now know that distinct forms are necessary for recognition, not eternal separation. We have come to know that forms come and go before our every eyes but we are not lost when they do. That in us which creates the things of our lives precedes them and is busy making new things, even as the ones in front of us are leaving.

Describe love?...

We have come to recognize essentials, even though they may be hard to discern and even harder to describe. Who among us can really describe love, even though we are discovering it in some of the strangest places? What does it really mean to “belong” when the sense of it is so ineffable, more like something felt at times rather than reasoned?

Shared connections...

Best of all, perhaps, our minds have grown into positions of shared connections as a kind of norm. What Williams James might have called the “rinds” around our minds have ceased to be so resistant and have become more porous to what flows in and out of our softened boundaries. We don’t have to work as hard now to establish a formal connection when our existential connection is so much more easily identified. In many ways life is less mundane than it used to be and more replete with deeper understandings yet to be perceived. It is more complicated but nothing to be feared, for it will show itself eventually in ways we can grasp and embrace.

This is what connection means.

On Regeneration

            Since we like to use nature’s seasonal changes as arbitrary times for beginnings and endings, I wrote a blog last week on completions, suggesting that the close of the year was a good time to close out unfinished business.  By the same token I am using this week’s blog as a good time for regeneration.  We are into a brand new year, which is a time for beginnings.  Now some of us dragging a little mileage behind us may think that there may not be much that is new to us anymore, but I say no to this thinking.  Every time we get up in the morning (or whatever passes for morning) we are into a new, unrepeatable day.  Yesterday’s feet-on-the-ground don’t count anymore.  Today’s feat (pun intended) always contains something as yet unknown to be lived.

            Are we thinking of those who love and care about us because of the many gifts of ourselves that we have given over time?   Not necessarily because of what we have done but because of who we are.  As she grew older, my sainted mother frequently mourned the things she could no longer do and often felt she was useless.  No matter what her children said, she seemed not to realize that simply having her in our lives was enough for us.  Hers was a line of thinking I do not recommend, for it tends to set aside the most priceless gift we have to give.

            We cannot be any more present than we are at this moment, so let us be very excitably and all-tingly present.  Even as the new year begins to lay itself out in both knowable and unknowable events and possibilities, we can welcome them as adventures that are ours, or we can blunt their edges with front-loaded disinterest and dismay.  I don’t recommend this either.  Who knows what we might miss?

            2016 is here, unknown, unlived, a lifetime in waiting.  Ready or not, so are we!

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