Connection
There were a lot of jokes and sighs of relief when the world didn’t end last year as many interpreted the Mayan Calendar to mean. Many doomsayers prepared for the worst as the date neared. A friend of mine didn’t buy into it. She thought the Mayans just didn’t have time to finish the calendar because the Spanish showed up. I prefer to interpret the calendar as noting the end of an era. And the beginning of a new one. Let’s assume we are at the start of this new era. We have a clean slate. What do we want this new era to be?
Human history up to this point has been centered on fear. Fear of having enough food. Fear of basic survival. Fear of being taken from or attacked. Fear of lack: lack of money, love, time, resources, security, meaning. Fear led to a desire to protect oneself from the unknown, the environment, governments, friends, family, and even oneself. Fear kept us separate, guarded, mistrustful, callous, angry, cautious, shut down, and insolated. Fear kept us from joy. Fear made us a victim of others and our surroundings. Fear kept us removed from others. Fear made our innovations harmful to each other and the environment. Fear caused internal discord and outside devastation. Fear only led to new fears.
I know there are those out there who would chose love or acceptance, but those concepts can be so removed from the fear we now experience it may be difficult to accept. Instead I propose we chose Connection for this new era. Re-Connecting can lead to understanding, acceptance, appreciation, and eventually love. Connection starts with a renewed connection to oneself. For too long we have been a reactionary species. We react out of self-protection or as a response to family or society. Especially in the Western world we have lived most of our lives on conveyor belts following the customs of our families, the sequence of schooling, and the expectations of a job, house, and family. Nowhere in the process are we encouraged to uncover and follow our own truth. It is time to reconnect to ourselves so we can uncover and follow our own unique desires, intuitions, and needs.
Connection continues with the people we know and branches into those we don’t know. Often we view relationships as us versus them in order to keep ourselves safe from a culture we don’t understand or perhaps a toxic family member. We feel isolated, attacked, or victimized. Through connection we can reverse this by acknowledging, understanding, and eventually accepting the other. Connection broadens into the institutions meant to serve us. Whether corporations, governments, or social services, many institutions have lost the connection with the individuals they were meant to serve. It is time to reconnect the institution with their purpose to serve. Finally Connection expands to the world we live in and the other beings that inhabit that world. Fear has separated us from the natural world in which we exist. Let’s reconnect with the foliage, animals, and living being that is our planet.
What would you like to do to usher in this new era of connection? Do you want to reconnect with your own needs? Do you want to make amends with your family? Do you want to reach out to understand those in other cultures? Do you want to repair institutional systems? Do you want to reconnect man with mother earth? Share with us how you are being called to re-Connect.
