We’re intrinsically interconnected in the most intimate way (so we don’t have to feel lonely)
Many of us feel loneliness, but we don’t all feel it the same way. Maybe a good friend or family member passed away, maybe we’re rather secluded and without any friends/much family, or maybe we just don’t feel like we have anyone around us that we can relate with.
Whatever it is, Buddhist wisdom on our interconnected nature can teach us that we can feel connected to the world around us whether we’re around other people (directly) or not.
Simply being alive, you’re connected to millions of other “beings”- humans, animals, insects, and other organisms as well as the clouds, the sun, and the trees.
“Insects don’t keep me from feeling lonely”. I get it, really, but there’s more to it than that. We as human beings are all interconnected in a very real way.The largest and most unifying way? The fact that we all suffer in exactly the same ways, and simply knowing that can bring us together more than anything else.
In fact, it’s really our suffering which allows for loneliness to be present in the first place. If you’re feeling awesome one day, even if you’re by yourself, you don’t particularly feel lonely, do you? Even if you’re alone you don’t, because you feel great. In this way, we can understand loneliness as simply the result of feeling that we suffer by ourselves.
But we never do, even if we’re alone in a physical sense. And now, more than ever, we have ways to reach out to and connect with others who are experiencing our same pain. This in itself can be very healing. Even sitting and meditating on this knowledge can be liberating. Sit, breathe mindfully, and know that thousands, if not millions, of other people all around the world are going through what you’re going through (or something similar) right now in this very moment.
Imagine yourself touching them on the shoulder, and expressing your love and compassion to them. Breathe in knowing that you’re not alone. You’re in this together, whether they (whoever the other people are out there) know it or not.
Peace and Love, Jim
