#connectedness

I am not the lonely human, plunked down on earth to aimlessly wander. I am a part of that earth and not going anywhere- just like the spider up in the corner, the dust on the sill, and the cat I buried in the backyard. -Jamaica Ritcher. ↗

— Jay Allison

#inspirational #nature #inspirational

I think what makes us human - is our interconnectedness among people. It's our ability to form and maintain relationships. It's the barometer by which we call ourselves human. ↗

— Thomas Jane

#among #barometer #call #form #human

Only within the 20th Century has biological thought been focused on ecology, or the relation of the living creature to its environment. Awareness of ecological relationships is — or should be — the basis of modern conservation programs, for it is useless to attempt to preserve a living species unless the kind of land or water it requires is also preserved. So delicately interwoven are the relationships that when we disturb one thread of the community fabric we alter it all — perhaps almost imperceptibly, perhaps so drastically that destruction follows." Essay on the Biological Sciences, in: Good Reading (1958) ↗

— Rachel Carson

#ecology #environment #nature #preservation #nature

Far from making me feel different and special, my [spiritual] experiences made me feel the same, ordinary, and interconnected. If I felt more spiritual, everyone else felt more spiritual as well. (276) ↗

— Julia Cameron

#spiritual-experience #spirituality #unity #experience

It is an occult law moreover, that no man can rise superior to his individual failings without lifting, be it ever so little, the whole body of which he is an integral part. In the same way no one can sin, nor suffer the effects of sin, alone. In reality, there is no such thing as 'separateness' and the nearest approach to that selfish state which the laws of life permit is in the intent or motive. ↗

— Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

#selfishness #sin #theosophy #virtue #life

Along with the mystical wonderment and sense of ecological responsibility that comes with the recognition of connectedness, more disturbing images come to mind. When applied to economics, connectedness seems to take the form of chain stores, multinational corporations, and international trade treaties which wipe out local enterprise and indigenous culture. When I think of it in the realm of religion, I envision smug missionaries who have done such a good job of convincing native people everywhere that their World-Maker is the same as God, and by this shoddy sleight of hand have been steadily impoverishing the world of the great fecundity and complex localism of belief systems that capture truths outside the Western canon. And I wonder—if everything's connected, does that mean that everything can be manipulated and controlled centrally by those who know how to pull strings at strategic places? ↗

— Malcolm Margolin

#control #disconnection #diversity #religion

Trouble makes us one with every human being in the world - and unless we touch others, we're out of touch with life. ↗

— Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

#compassion #connectedness #help #oneness #trouble

Yoga has brought me closer to myself. It's helped me realize the interconnectedness of the mind, body and spirit, in the Buddhist sense of the word. ↗

— Christy Turlington

#brought #buddhist #closer #helped #interconnectedness

No life is a waste," the Blue Man said. "The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we're alone. ↗

— Mitch Albom

#inspirational #interdependence #inspirational

Sitting outside on a dark night, under the stars, invites confidences amongst people of all ages, and all walks of life. It invokes an intimacy you don’t find under most other circumstances. ↗

— A.B. Shepherd

#connectedness #connecting #connecting-with-people #philosophy-of-life #age