Right Interconnectedness

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Right Interconnectedness

    Sanford Baran:  It is good to gather this morning to allow a collective release of substance to be known. If this is to happen collectively, it must first be known individually speaking. As individuals, we have ample opportunity to allow our moment by moment living to clothe the qualities of our spirit as accurately as possible. Then, when we do have opportunity to assemble in a gathering such as this, each person has something to bring to the table, an offering imbued with their own living substance. It is wonderful to come together as spiritual colleagues-not to get anything for ourselves, but to allow the connectedness of our shared purpose to offer a blessing to any and all who would receive it.

    Prior to the start of our service some recorded music was played, providing a fine setting for our time together. Although the music might not have transmitted all that well over the phone lines, we heard some lovely a cappella singing by a very accomplished ensemble called The Cambridge Singers. Their singing is characterized by an overall purity of sound textured with carefully blended harmonies. They can do this because the intonation of each of the individual singers is so pure and accurate. So it is with us. As each of us expresses a purity of Tone, then our collective expression is all the more resonant and compelling.

    We live in a unified and interconnected universe. In one way or another, everything within the cosmos is connected to everything else. This is because it is all one creation. Everything springs from the same source. It is important to recognize that the mechanism of connection occurs primarily at the level of Spirit. If we look at our own human bodies, these beautiful forms are composed of billions of individual cells-quite the engineering marvel! The majority of these cells, however, will never physically come in contact with each other-yet they still are very much connected. When the body is healthy, each of these billions of cells works together meticulously with one shared purpose: to allow the body to be an expression of the One I Am. We can acknowledge that it is the work of Spirit acting through the realm of form that makes this all possible.

    The realm of physical form, on its own, is quite fragile. We know that our physical bodies are not made to last forever. This also is true with respect to our planet, or for that matter, the Sun that powers our solar system. These will all eventually pass away and be gone. Presumably other forms will be born to replace them. But the fact is, all physical form is transitory and quite temporary. Fortunately, the realm of form is only a small component of all that is. So even though form as we know it is quite fragile and temporary, we can be confident that permeating it all is something quite stable and very much in control. That something is Spirit. Our orientation and identity in Spirit is what aligns us with what is firm and unceasing.

    It is from this trusted and reliable foundation that useful associations between individuals are formed. We are familiar with the words of Jesus: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you"-in other words, to be totally yielded to that which is trustworthy, allowing Spirit to govern every thought, word, and deed. Once this is the case, colleagues sharing this mutual orientation, rightly have the experience of friendship. True friendship never occurs on the basis of common human nature interests or compatible personalities. Friendship is certainly more than just the enjoyment of one another's company. Indeed there is substantial pleasure in the experience of true friendship, but this is because the association is grounded in something stable and true.

    It is clear that human beings are becoming increasingly interconnected. For example, over half the world's population now lives in cities exceeding 500,000 inhabitants. People are living closer together in ever-increasing density. In the world of finance, all of the world's financial mechanisms are increasingly becoming more intertwined. Banks and investment houses are merging. Financial institutions of all stripes are very much interlinked, transcending national boundaries. In the field of economics, currencies are linked and stock markets are becoming more closely coupled. National economies are increasingly tracking each other. In the area of manufacturing, the world's goods are no longer built solely in one factory. Parts, raw materials, and labor for manufactured products originate in many different countries-anywhere from a few to dozens. In telecommunications, with the advent of inexpensive computers, smart mobile devices, and of course the Internet, we can instantaneously connect with virtually anyone on the planet. In the field of transportation, we can pretty much go anywhere on the planet and get there under a day. And in the field of agriculture, the food on our table now comes from all over the world. The list goes on and on.

    From the standpoint of the whole there definitely is some truth in man's push toward greater consolidation and connectedness. We do, after all, live in a unified and connected universe. Perhaps unconsciously, this drive to consolidate the various aspects of human activity is man's attempt to be in closer alignment with all that is interconnected. But a question needs to be raised. What are the risks in connecting things that are fundamentally unstable? In a nutshell, it is done at great peril. We see the disastrous and catastrophic ramifications of proceeding purely on the basis of form. For example, we presently are in the grips of a global recession, no longer constrained to a few local economies. The economic distress is worldwide. On another front, we might be witnessing the beginning of a global pandemic, where the swine flu virus is easily propagating across national boundaries and can no longer be contained. Finally, we all enjoy instantaneous access to information, news, and entertainment brought to us by evermore sophisticated and mobile systems of communication. But how much of what is being transmitted is factual, and how much serves to convey fear and misinformation?

    The Master said, "Follow me"-in other words, orient to what is true. To the extent that we are orienting to something stable and reliable, we likewise can make the same statement, "Follow me." We rightly are in position to say this, if what we ourselves are following is stable and true. So it is useful to ask of myself, "Whom do I follow? Where is the focus of my attention?" With such ready access to all manner of media, it is far too easy to get sidetracked following celebrities, the rich and famous, sports figures, authors, musicians, pundits, and television personalities. If we are following the trivial, the superficial, that which has no substance, we certainly are in no position to provide correct representation to anyone else. But as we do orient to something that is higher, something that is absolutely stable and true, rich in substance, our living example becomes something of tremendous service to others.

    We realize that much of human technology is a substitute pattern for what is already present in the invisible realms. Look at the tremendous attention being paid to two very popular online services called Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is an online mechanism whose focus is to maintain and cultivate friendships. In the Facebook world, the more friends you accumulate, the better. Twitter is an online mechanism designed to let users send out short frequent messages, called tweets, to any number of people who have signed up to receive them. Once you sign up to receive tweets from a particular Twitter member, you become what is known as a follower of that member. In the Twitter world, one goal is to cultivate a large number of followers. I found this interesting-friends and followers.

    Well these tools are interesting at some level. They certainly give indication of the keen interest people have in sharing friendships, in following people who are deemed to be interesting, and even cultivating one's own group of followers. But if the motivation in using such tools is not based in something stable and true, the resulting interconnections can only be of limited value.

    Incidentally, if you go to the Twitter website, it has on its home page this description: "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" On the surface, that sounds like a complete waste of time. But you know this isn't such a bad question to be asking of ourselves-what are you doing? Not that I'm all that keen to get a moment by moment update of what somebody else happens to be doing. I am, however, interested in what I'm doing, in the sense that I want to remove any obstacles and resistance that still might be blocking the fullness of my potential. Perhaps a better question might be, "Where is my orientation right now?" If it's focused on the trivial, on the superficial, strictly on the realm of form, then my potential usefulness is severely hampered. On the other hand, if my orientation is in Spirit, then I'm in position to play my rightful part within the one interconnected design.

    On my way home from work the other day I was envisioning an alternative to Twitter. I came up with the name Emitter. Emitter wouldn't need to be on the Internet; it could easily work just within one's own consciousness. In Emitter, like Twitter, you likewise would answer a single question perhaps multiple times a day. But that question would be "What is it that I am oriented to now?" If the answer were, "To the One I Am," based in my factual living at the time, then Emitter would send out a beam, not to be confused with a tweet. A beam would be a burst of radiation propagated through the interconnectedness of Spirit enhancing and positively contributing to the overall well-being of the whole of creation. I'm pretty sure it would work-after all, never underestimate the power of spiritual expression! The mechanisms for right interconnectedness do exist, and are ready to be used to the degree that we are oriented accordingly.

    So I would agree that there is a strong motivation on the part of mankind to come together. Whether conscious or not, there is a strong yearning to reconnect with what is stable and true, paving the way for individuals to again play their rightful parts within the overall design. Shifting our focus away from the trivial, we realize that there is something very substantial for each of us to do. As this is done individually, we then are in position to work together as spiritual colleagues. It is terrific to be together this morning, sharing this common orientation as friends.