“When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world.”
John Muir, Conservationist in Yosemite National Park.
We are One, irrevocably connected and interdependent with each other.
One of the most widespread patterns in mythology is that we all come from a common source: from stars, from first parents, from creator gods or goddesses or their bodies, from the divine breath or word or from the earth itself. Though we enter this life through the natural processes of birth, our essential being, our spiritual being and life force - even the cosmos - derive from the same original source.
In the Babylonian Enumu Elish, the god Marduk creates the heavens and earth from the body of the Mother of the gods, Tiamat: “From her head he formed the mountains, and from her eyes, caused the great rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, to flow. “From her breasts he formed the lofty mountains….So he created heaven and earth." Human beings are made from the body of Tiamat’s husband, Kingu: "I will take blood and fashion bone….I will establish a savage, ‘man’ shall be his name…He shall be charged with the service of the gods that they might live in ease!”
In the beautiful Maori creation myth, the primordial parents, Papa and Rangi (heaven and earth) give birth to the world but so long and passionate is their loving embrace that for eons all of creation, including their children, is trapped in the darkness between them. Only when they are forcibly separated by their children are the things and forces of nature – sun and moon, wind, creatures and human beings - finally able to be realised.
The Bible is commonly believed to tell that mankind began with Adam, who was created from the dust of the earth, and his helpmeet, Eve, representing the first man and the first woman. There is behind this, however, a more ancient mystical tradition in which God created divine Man, Adam Kadmon, "in His own image" - pure spirit, complete and undivided into male and female) creator of human Man (Adam) who, entranced by materiality and separated into male and female, must find their way back to God...(not literally we were never really apart, but consciously).
We are part of the One; We exist within the One; We never were and never could exist apart from it. Our greatest error is to believe that we are separate from the Source, or from each other, unaccountable to each other and entitled to be selfish. This is the fundamental cause of all of our anguish, our fear, our wars, hatred, poverty, environmental destructiveness, greed and suffering.
Deep in our hearts, we have known this from the very beginning. We have understood that while the illusion of separateness is intrinsic to our existence on earth and our ability to experience and interact with the world, we are nevertheless one. In the most simple terms, we are children of the same cosmos, children (if you will) of the same God, or (if God is not an acceptable concept to you), children of the same gene pool from which all of humanity has sprung.
For too long, we have forgotten.
But I believe that we are, right now, entering a time of re-awakening...a growing realisation that our destinies are irrevocably intertwined and that our continued survival depends on our ability to care for, and cooperate with each other.
Every day, I hear people talk about global consciousness, universal mind, Oneness, connectedness of all being. Global movements are demanding that we re-think the values of our economic, social and political systems that have failed us, and build the more equitable, just and sustainable societies that we have always wanted.
Yet when I ask, 'How are you helping to build this new world?', I find that most people have no answer. We have been deluded into thinking that without the power of governments, money or force behind us, there is little we can do.
Don't believe it. We are not helpless or ineffective as long .... as we are willing to take action. If we genuinely want a better world based on recognition of our shared humanity and respect for our earthly home, we must go beyond wishing and talking. We must act...not necessarily in grand or public gestures, but quietly, consistently, in whatever ways we can.
But will we have the numbers to create change? Yes, we will. All we need to set the process of change into motion are enough individuals committed to kindness, justice, truth...their highest ideals, and willing to act upon them in their daily lives. In fact, scientists who researched past social changes discovered that it takes only one tenth of us to effect change.
"Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.
('Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Idea' at ScienceDaily.com July 26, 2011).
So how will you contribute to the global movement for positive change? What gifts, talents, knowledge, enthusiasm or energy can you bring to this great river of hope that has been set in motion? Will you be part of the necessary committed ten percent, or will you just talk about a better world?
Think about it.
Tosia
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