We’re All Connected
We live in an age of propaganda and disinformation, where people with power, such as our President and his sycophants, habitually lie and expect the people to believe them no matter how ridiculous their lies are. It’s no wonder that when obvious lies are treated as truth and truth is labeled “fake news,” we begin to question what is real and what isn’t. We become more susceptible to conspiracy theories. But this is the whole point. That’s what gaslighting is all about. It’s designed to make us question reality. We don’t know who to trust anymore so it’s easier to divide and conquer us.
I think part of the problem is that there is an important bit of reality that humans tend to ignore. For some reason, we want to understand ourselves as independent and autonomous, which makes it easier to sow dissension and divide us into “us” vs. “them.” American culture in particular creates heroes out of the icon of the lone cowboy and glorifies the rich who “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.” But that’s all nonsense. No matter how hard we work, none of us has gotten through life simply on our own merit. We only move through life with the help of others. But that is an inconvenient fact in a culture that promotes selfishness and calls empathy a sin.
Of course, not all human cultures miss the reality of our interdependence. The Native American leader Chief Seattle, who died in 1866 at about the age of 80, said, “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.” You, me, Creation – we are all connected. We’ve always been connected. We will always be connected. We just too often fail to realize it.
When we harm the earth, we harm ourselves. When we pollute a river, everything down stream is polluted. When we spew gases into the air, it affects the climate around the world for years to come. Think too about how small our modern world has become. How war in the Ukraine and Iran causes food and oil shortages for nations who aren’t even involved in those conflicts. How a statement by a politician can cause stock markets all over the world to fluctuate wildly. We’re even connected in our emotional and mental health. One person entering a room can change the mood, for better or worse. One person repeating a rumor can spread division throughout a group of friends. And then those people go off and influence other people.
All things are bound together and all things connect. In Christianity, Jesus tells us this is revealed through the “Spirit of Truth” (i.e. the Holy Spirit).1 She is the voice within that helps us, teaches us, and guides us in love to see Truth, to help us see things as they really are, and become the best people we can be. She not only calls us to open ourselves in vulnerability, to live honestly and fairly, never being deceitful, but she is the one who teaches us of our true authentic nature, “that I [Jesus] am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” That is, we are all connected and that connection is part of the design of the universe. Jesus also explains what connects us. It is in love that we hear the Spirit speaking. It is in love that we come to know God because God is love. It is love that binds us together.
Jesus says the world doesn’t accept the Spirit of Truth because the world doesn’t recognize the Spirit. They haven’t opened their hearts to love. Instead they focus on power and wealth, what they can get for themselves, with little thought for others. Never accepting that in hurting others they also hurt themselves. They fail to understand how we are connected, bound together. They never come to know that their own true nature is founded in love.
When we give into selfish pursuits, we’re still seeking meaning and belonging. We’re still seeking the connection that we at some deep level know we have and need. We’re just looking in the wrong places. We need to start looking in the right places: in relationships, in helping other people, in nature. In love. We are brothers and sisters and cousins to each other. And not only to each other but to the deer and bear and trees and flowers. To every living thing. It is love that truly connects us.
Whenever we act in love, giving compassionate guidance, caring for someone who is ill, helping someone in need, we open ourselves to connection and bring a little healing to the world. Whenever we accept the love of another, letting someone guide, teach, or help us, whenever we allow someone within our defenses and get closer to them, we open ourselves to connection and bring a little healing to the world. We strengthen the ties that bind us together through sharing of ourselves, honestly and with vulnerability. Sharing our unique and wonderful God-given gifts to help each other, to lift each other up and nurture each other. Sharing our pains and fears as well as our joys. Sharing compassion and respect for each other’s lives. Taking risks by showing our love, deeply listening, opening our hearts, and letting go of self-serving judgements. Love begets love. The more love we give, the more love we have, the more healing we find, the more healing flows into the world.
Ironically, as interdependent as our world is, it is also so divided and isolated by fear. The world needs healing. The world needs our love. How can we help put more love into the world this week? Is there some act of love we can take to help the world finally understand that we are bound together? That it is love that can save us and heal us?
1. John 14:15-21