Maybe Everything Matters

A pleasant Sunday afternoon in Melbourne I sat in our sunroom enjoying the mild sunny afternoon with the picturesque spread of foliage from our surrounding trees. I was reading a book that stimulated some of my deepest thoughts of ‘existence’. Every now and again, I found it better to pause and enjoy the sense of spirit my thoughts had led me to.

I recalled a conversation with a long-time friend, with whom I had discovered a commonality of understanding and decided to write a short SMS to share a thought. He responded he was sitting on his veranda sipping a cool drink accompanied by his dozing cat and similarly pondering some of the deepest moments of existence. I wondered how many others might similarly be enjoying such a sacred moment of their life. It’s the story of the unseen multitude of humanity that regularly embraces the fulness of the sacredness of a moment.

Earlier that same morning, I had taken a moment to chat with a friend after the service of worship at my local church. As a retired climate scientist who had worked within the Bureau of Meteorology throughout his adult life, he happened to include the comment of how the flap of the butterfly wing could travel the world and ultimately cause a tornado on the other side of the globe. An amazing thought that challenges the possibility that maybe our very own simple thoughts have far-reaching possibilities.

Can life be shaped by a simple thought, and even more importantly by living with a regularly positive state of mind. Can the deeper our thoughts lead us, empower the spirit of life to engage our own intimate community or family and neighbours. Can other’s thoughts intermingle with a collective power to shape a society for good.

In recent time I have read several books on conspiracy theory, notably QAnon. Its’ community is formed by joining particular ‘online platforms’ enabling the interconnection of participants. The often coded, perhaps outlandish proclamations spreading like a wild fire from one person’s ‘post’ to another with little regard for truthfulness, or damage to another’s reputation or wellbeing is a horrifying reality. Such a negative swarm of destructive aggressive lies via reposting other messages passed around to whoever, is known to exponentially grow to thousands upon thousands in moments. It is a powerful, if horrifying reality of the internet conspiracy movement that has no boundaries and draws new members from across the globe. If this is a real example of the deeper interconnection of humanity, then why would we not entertain the probability of the global interconnection of people with the noblest of thoughts, most notably through the deeper practices of prayer, meditation and contemplation, or the kind word or empathetic listening ear.

Ken Wilber has written prolifically on the contemporary world grounded in the ever-deepening realms of the mind. His most recent book is entitled, the Religion of Tomorrow, which compiles a comprehensive paradigm of understanding for all religious traditions to build their particular story of faith. As he draws his - 500 page - book to a conclusion he dares to dream of the positive power of each of us contributing to the building of a better world.

I quote,

And what can you do to help bring about this historical revolution? Right now, this moment? Every time you think an Integral thought; every time you conceive an Integral idea; every time your pulse quickens with the thought of a more beautiful, more truthful, more ethical world tomorrow; every time you read and study, or create and write, Integral notions; every time you even ask, “What can I do to bring this about, to speed this up?”; every time you dream the dream of a more inclusive tomorrow, the dream of a more harmonious future, the dream of a more balanced and cherished earth, the dream of a Spirituality that touches the God in each and every being alive, and gives that God an embodied home in your own being; every time you reach out for a future that is even just a little more Whole than the one today; every time you imagine any human activity – from education to parenting to medicine to government to law – redrawn in a more inclusive and Integral fashion; every time you look into the eyes of a young child, perhaps even (that of) your own, and wish for them a future of greater love and compassion, care and concern, and see them smile in the radiant halo of that embracing tomorrow: every time you think a moment a little more Whole than the previous one, or see partialities brought together in the patterns that connect, or reach out to a future where all God’s children are judged in Cosmic terms, not parochial or prejudiced ones; every time you make a choice that is in favour of the betterment of humankind and all living beings in their entirety; every time you see broken pieces and fractured shards and torn and tortured human beings brought together in a more unified, inclusive, and caring embrace; and every time you yearn for a tomorrow even slightly more unified and inclusive and embracing than today – every single time, you do anything like any of those, you are yourself directly, immediately, and irrevocably building interior Integral objects that are instantly being stored in the real Kosmos, adding a few inches to the size in our directions now. Welcome to your place in history. It is richly deserved.[1]

So much is made of the most influential, unique contributor, but the real power lies in the quality of each individual prepared to take their own life’s contribution seriously. The power of the community is Godly.

[1] K Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow. A Vision for the Future of the Great Religions (Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications, Inc, 2017), Book, 649.