ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED

[Xmac]

If a wave, as Alan Watts has pointed out, is more of a feature than a part of an ocean, then one wave on one side of the world is connected to another on the other side. Parts and things don't exist in nature or reality, they're....features of language.

Now, I know that language is ultimately a feature of humans but for the sake of illustration, I'm going to focus on that that is other than language because it doesn't need language whereas the opposite is not true.

At this point, not everyone would necessarily agree that there are no "things" anywhere. One could point to the example of the ocean and say that the shore is not the same as, or not connected to the ocean. Is there an ocean anywhere that doesn't have a shore? Can they exist separately?

From there the argument might say that trees are separate from the ocean but there again, the trees are connected to the ground that is connected to the shore.

If one considers the atmosphere surrounding every breathing mammal as an ocean of air, it can be seen that each breath is a wave that breaks in/on the shore of the mammal's lungs and then returns.

Every person can be seen (along with his or her siblings) as the crest of a "family wave". Going back to just our great great grandparents there are 31 people that make up a family wave (not including siblings). These waves, though not apparent in the usual way of thinking, are enormous and are features of another connected ocean (we're even born out of, and made of water).

Now, look up from your computer. Every "thing" you see is a feature of the ocean of your perception (field of vision). Each person's perception is a feature of an ocean of human perception.

If you "separate" a glass sitting on the table by putting it in another room, your memory, the floor, gravity, the laws of physics and sand are how one is still connected to it.

How are we connected by sand? It is made out of sand and sand is found connected to the dirt and the dirt is where our "family wave" breaks.

[catherine]

Random thoughts:


Your post reminds me of a page out of A Course In Miracles workbook
Thich Nhat Hanh also does a great job of illustrating your point--he tells us that when we eat an apple, we are eating the sunshine that grew it, the work of the farmer, the tree it came from, the rain that watered it, etc, and we become all of those things in so doing.
I also love Thich Nhat Hanh's analogy of one's right/left hands.. The right hand never says to the left hand, "You aren't as good as I am! You don't write nearly as well! You aren't as strong!" So if we are connected as in one body, speaking to each other in those terms is equally nonsensical.
Your post also reminds me of one of my favorite artist's work: Renee Magritte (below): "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" speaks to the idea of what see and what we are a part of defies a label and also often defies our concept of reality. (I always thought if I ever got a tattoo--which I won't--it would be "ceci n'est pas moi" (This isn't me)

[Xmac]

Random thoughts:


Your post reminds me of a page out of A Course In Miracles workbook
Thich Nhat Hanh also does a great job of illustrating your point--he tells us that when we eat an apple, we are eating the sunshine that grew it, the work of the farmer, the tree it came from, the rain that watered it, etc, and we become all of those things in so doing.
I also love Thich Nhat Hanh's analogy of one's right/left hands.. The right hand never says to the left hand, "You aren't as good as I am! You don't write nearly as well! You aren't as strong!" So if we are connected as in one body, speaking to each other in those terms is equally nonsensical.
Your post also reminds me of one of my favorite artist's work: Renee Magritte (below): "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" speaks to the idea of what see and what we are a part of defies a label and also often defies our concept of reality. (I always thought if I ever got a tattoo--which I won't--it would be "ceci n'est pas moi" (This isn't me)


I know what you mean Catherine. Even being reminded is connections in awareness. Which makes me think of that line that there is nothing new under the sun. I would re-word that as: there is nothing disconnected under the sun (and from it).

[Xmac]

As a footnote, I like the clarified imagery that all humans and animals are as waves on the land.

[Tussiemussies]

Totally agree with you. The only thing is that it Isn't enough to intellectually think it but you make yourself have a rise in consciousness to actually experience it...,just my opinion. I like in the Hindu philosophy where that point out to love unconditionally you must realize that if you hurt any living being than you are hurting God. And also as we love God we should love others the same way....

[Xmac]

The only thing is that it Isn't enough to intellectually think it but you make yourself have a rise in consciousness to actually experience it...,just my opinion.

I also agree that this can't be faked, wished, or contrived by just thinking it. I use self-inquiry which, as I understand it, is a form of yang yoga. That's a type of yoga in which the intellect is used to gain enlightenment. However, at least in my practice, it's not just thinking. It's more like contemplation.


I like in the Hindu philosophy where that point out to love unconditionally you must realize that if you hurt any living being than you are hurting God. And also as we love God we should love others the same way....

I remember reading Gandhi's autobiography in which he, and those in the ashram in South Africa, had some difficulty with what to do about the poisonous snakes there. As you may imagine they ended up killing the snakes because it is consistent with Non-violence to stop or kill a being that will kill. Jains don't agree with this. Probably because if you can justify it once, it creates more justification. I disagree. One can kill out of compassion. There's a story in Buddhism in which the Buddha (in his prior re-birth) killed a man out of compassion.

So, as I, Gandhi and some Buddhists see it, it is primarily about the quality of mind that kills. The outward actions of another do not always reveal his/her motives.