Interconnection: Being Means “Being With”

Ubuntu speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself.–Desmond Tutu

Sin has been defined as separation – from God, from others, from the earth, from our very selves.  God built us for interconnection, not separation. I’ve been thinking lately about white supremacy.  And it occurs to me that, at its root, white supremacy is all about separation.  It began with white folks seeing ourselves as exceptional and then walling ourselves off.  

But the insidious nature of separation (sin) meant that we also began walling ourselves off from nature, seeing it as a resource to exploit rather than as a being to be with.  We separated ourselves from our bodies, seeing our own and others’ bodies as somehow shameful.  In doing so, we began living in our heads, becoming separate from ourselves, treating our bodies as a resource to exploit (for labor, for pleasure) rather than as our very being to be with.  We separated ourselves from our divine nature, God within us, seeing God as a resource to exploit (to bless our endeavors, for the gifts of God’s hands) rather than as a Being to be with. And we separated ourselves from other people, seeing them as a resource to exploit (for what they could do for us) rather than as a being to be with. 

I remember a time when my granddaughter’s small, soft body pressed against mine as we did crosswords together, as we read about pigeons. Children share their warmth and muscle and sweat, haven’t learned yet to maintain personal boundaries and bubbles which tend to expand as we age. It helped me remember a time when being meant being with, pressed up against a friend or loved one. Not saving ourselves for ourselves, but flinging our warmth against another, shamelessly.  Truely, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you shall in no way enter the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 18:3  Because, I think, heaven is all about being with God and others in this pure and childlike way.  

So I’ve begun asking myself a simple question throughout the day.  “Who are you being with right now?”  Even (and especially) when I’m seemingly alone there is so much to be with.  I look inward, listening to whatever my body is saying and feeling right now, connecting with the Divine within me and beside me.  I can be with plants, insects, birds, and animals that are within my range of sight and sound.  We are never separate, except in the prison of our minds.  

When I’m with people, instead of maintaining my polite distance (introvert that I am) what if I engaged in a more childlike way? With curiosity and good will, letting my personal bubble shrink, until, even in the most mundane exchange, there was true connection.  Because in my mind I flung myself, my warmth and muscle and sweat toward nature, toward God, toward others.  Shamelessly.