Separate or Connected?

In the Tao Te Ching there is a short part of one of the verses that reflects well how the world at large sees itself as separate from everyone else. It says the following;

All the world says,
“I am important;
I am separate from all the world.
I am important because I am separate,
Were I the same, I could never be important.”

This is a very general misconception that we often have as we look at ourselves and the world around us. The temptation is always there to see ourselves as separate from one another, and that the more we distinguish, or separate, ourselves from those around us, the more important we become. This is one of the great reasons behind much of the strife we encounter as we go through life.

Going through your days seeing yourself as separate from each person you encounter only distances you from that person, and until we can see that we are all one, we have little hope of solving the issues that the world now faces. This is at the core of the philosophy that I am sharing, while indeed happiness is found inside of you, it is also found inside each person you come in contact with. When we approach life seeing ourselves as connected to all people there is a very positive energy that comes with. Conversely if we see ourselves as separate from the world then each encounter we have with another individual will negatively impact both ourselves and the other person.

For example when we are driving along the highway, we often by default revert to seeing ourselves as separate from all the other people driving along the same road, and in seeing ourselves as separate we often enter into ridiculous little contest with other motorists, trivial things like pacing just ahead of the car next to you, or driving too close to the bumper of the car ahead of you because you feel he is not going fast enough. This is not something you would do if you were walking down the street, you would feel ridiculous indeed walking closely behind another person because you feel they are not walking fast enough. The reason that we behave differently when walking than we do when driving is because when we are walking we tend to see the other person as an individual, another human walking along, and as we walk along we feel more connected to that person. When we drive it’s a whole different situation. Inside of each car is a person, but while driving most people don’t see the other person, they simply see a vehicle, and when all you see is an object you act with greater indifference to that object.

But the truth is that we are all connected, human life on this planet progresses at a rate relative to how closely humans see themselves as connected to other humans. In what history of western civilization calls the “Dark Ages” we see that human progress slowed to a near halt for centuries, this is because the societal system was based on the acquisition of power over other people, those in power simply saw their “subjects” as objects with which they achieved their own desires, this extended from politics to religion and all avenues in between. In a society based on the gain of dominion over others there is really no room for society at large to progress. This is exactly what happened during this struggle through history.

As soon as ideas started surfacing throughout the world that “all men are created equal” we started to see the collective human consciousness awake as if from a deep sleep and as we progressed further into such great causes as equal rights for women, and ultimately equal rights for all people regardless of their origins we have seen huge strides in the progression of things that add to the general welfare of society, you can follow along and see that as more and more human rights were recognized more and more technological advances were made and with greater speed than ever. The printing press as developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the middle part of the 1400’s remained relatively unchanged until the early part of the 1800’s at which point the automated printing press came into being. We can look at technological advances since that time and be absolutely spellbound at the speed and ease with which technology has impacted our lives.

We now find ourselves at a crossroads, increasingly we are being convinced that we live in a world of “us versus them” whether it be as a result of political strife within our own country or if it is nation against nation, or even someone trying to convince us that we need to hate another group because they think differently than we do. This information is all around us and seems to be getting more and more forceful in its approach. We need to start turning off the voices out there that tell us that we are separate. We need to recognize that simply because we have ideological differences there is no reason that we must be enemies. Possibly the worst attitude to have is that “if you are not with me you are against me.” This is not true, the reality is that we are all together; we are all pieces of a great puzzle that in order to be complete requires all of us. The Dalai Lama is said to have stated that if every child on the planet meditated on compassion for others for just one hour a week that the world could, in a single generation, eradicate all of the societal plagues that torment our society. Can you imagine? One generation has the capability to put an end to worldwide hunger, and sickness, and most importantly war.

Remember to stay connected to those around you, treat everyone with the respect and love that you desire to be treated with. Let’s see if we can help raise the collective consciousness of the entire world, and who knows what kind of great strides will be made if we are able to not focus on our differences, but focus on the common goal. After all I think almost everybody in the world wants the same thing, peace and happiness in their own lives. And we can accomplish this by making sure that we are a source of peace and happiness, and not a source of hate and unrest.

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