Interconnection

All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man does not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.  ~ Chief Seattle

A mystical and wise monkey named Kavi in my novel Shambhala talks of how we are all a reflection of the Earth from which we came. Our bodies are composed of three quarters liquid and one quarter mass, like the Earth. Our veins and capillaries are like the rivers and streams. We have energy centers that run various systems of our bodies, just like the Earth. Like the Earth, our bodies can flush out toxins, but if they are too overwhelmed by toxins they will break down.

A great quote from Kavi is, “You are all things on Earth, and all things on Earth are you.”

Let’s think about this further for a moment, logically and scientifically. Your body that is sitting here now—your physical body inside and out—is just the result of the massive amount of food that you have eaten throughout your life. This food was grown in the Earth, fertilized by countless bugs and other beings that died and broke down to create nutrients in the soil, grown and cultivated by others, nourished by the sun and the rains, picked and harvested, processed, packaged, and transported, and then prepared for you by others. Therefore, your body is a result of the efforts of others. Or in the very least, the result of infinite conditions that came together to create what you call your body. Let’s look at this a little deeper: your genetics were given to you by others; your language, even your name was given to you by others. All of our conditions are due to the causes and conditions of others.

So then, where is the Self?

Uh oh, the big question: here comes the airy fairy mystical stuff, right? Wrong. We can stay very practical here. The fact is that self cannot exist without others. Everything depends on everything else to exist. In fact, even the word self can’t exist without other. In the most simplistic form, we can look at our Earth and how what we do to the Earth affects us. When we create genetically modified foods or spray toxins on the food we eat, we suffer cancers and famines for the simple fact that everything is interdependent and what we do to the Earth we do to ourselves.

We can see this in our everyday existence: choose to smile at someone and say a nice word and the ripple you create will be far different from one if you choose to frown and say something nasty to that person. A simple rule of thumb is to be kind and enjoy, or at least try to, because we are then creating this for all others, and in effect ourselves, because all we are is other. The wisdom of our interconnection makes us grateful for all of life on this Earth. There is a delicate flow of life. We breathe in oxygen created by the trees and plant life and expel carbon dioxide, which in turn feeds them.

So back to the big question: Where is the self. What brings us hardship and pain often is the view that we are separate, apart from others—independent. But as we just discussed, we are all a part of others. All we are is others. All we are is dependent on others.

Mother Teresa’s observations of the world concluded, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of not belonging.” She also noted that, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” These profound statements by Mother Teresa illustrate the feelings of deep insecurity and disconnection we have with the world. We foster this unrealistic view that we are separate from all others and things in this world, when the truth is that all we are is due to the circumstances of others and in essence all we are is other.

While I was working on a documentary film in college about the rising problem of homelessness on Long Island, I had the good fortune to spend some time with a wonderful woman named Sister Elaine Bohrer. Sister Elaine started the Light House Mission on Long Island, whose mission is to feed the hungry and help the homeless. The closing line in the film is from an interview with her, and her simple yet powerful words stuck with me since that day: “We all need each other and that’s what makes it work.”

The fact is that we all are each other, and the wise ones have realized that by helping others we are helping ourselves. What I have found to be an effective way to overcome depression and insecure thoughts of separation is to volunteer to help others. This outward view and focus on others gives us back that sense of belonging and worth. Lao Tzu, the great master of the Tao, said, “Serve the needs of others, and your own needs will be fulfilled.” When we become the source of something, whether it’s love, abundance, belonging, or anything, we are creating it in our lives as well, because there is no separation between me and another. When we become the source of what we want and create it for others, we naturally create it for ourselves.

An excerpt from “Small Steps to Giant Leaps”