Connectedness
ON any given day, I turn from my screen and look into space. I stare well beyond the walls that I am facing and look into nothingness. It is almost looking outwardly and inside at the same exact time. A person comes to mind, they pop into my head as a random thought, not uninvited but certainly uninitiated. I think about them for a moment or maybe a little more. What do I do with this prompt? Do I make a call? Do I send a note? Do I just smile? It all depends on the day but there is a good chance that at some point in the very near future, I will be in some contact with this person or when I do speak with this person, they may say “I was just thinking about you.”
I look at relationships through multiple dimensions and multiple tethers. A tether is a string-like connection between you and another person. This tether can manifest in thought as a sense or in a unique and personal way. It is your tether and your perspective of the relationships you have with the world. If you can imagine walking around at any given time and place with this multitude of tethers connecting you through space and time to other people, it is ever changing and dynamic.
There are tethers created with context, relationships to work, home, family and beyond. These tethers are easy to identify for you as an individual. It is highly possible that the other person(s) at the end of this tether may also feel something through this connection. It is also possible for you to build a tether to a character or person that isn’t connected to you in a directly individualized way.
The multidimensional aspects of tethers happen or occur as a person examines the nature of the relationship with another person (some entanglement).
What is all this tether business? Why does it matter?
We are energy. We are all connected. It is important to understand that our connection to each other exists in the same way that we breathe the same air and drink the same water. We all may not see it but some part of us is connected through our energy. When we interact with each other, some of this energy is charged up and the string is lit up. What happens from here is dependent on what we choose to do.
Scientifically speaking, a Global Consciousness Project at Princeton is now examining and studying data that shows / indicates we are all connected with evidence. https://noosphere.princeton.edu/
Carl Jung also related to this connectivity.
The collective unconscious – so far as we can say anything about it at all – appears to consist of mythological motifs or primordial images, for which reason the myths of all nations are its real exponents. In fact, the whole of mythology could be taken as a sort of projection of the collective unconscious… We can therefore study the collective unconscious in two ways, either in mythology or in the analysis of the individual. (From The Structure of the Psyche, CW 8, par. 325.)
When the tether forms or entangles, we are connected through this energy. Many would say that it is not realistic or impossible to feel this entanglement. Many of us know when we feel connected to another person, and we can sense it in a very strange and subtle way. We don’t think it is real or we feel it’s a passing thought. When we speak to the person or hear from them, they may have known we were thinking about them in their own way that they couldn’t put their finger on.
If you reflect on your own experience, when you think about a past love or a mother’s inexplicable knowledge of their child in danger, you may consider both the anecdotal and common nonscientific evidence that there is something to this.
Science is now capable of proving what many of us all suspect. We are connected with each other through our energy. Our connection is only easily defined by the bounds of our imagination. We instinctively always have known this; George Lucas calls it out as “the force” and many have written about it in many other ways. One thing we can assert today is “It’s not magic, it’s quantum mechanics.”
The real question we need to ask each other is “given that we can prove that we are a collective of some form and that we are all connected, what steps can we take to better ourselves as a whole body?”
“If we think about the possible connection between quantum physics and spirituality, we can see that the mind would no longer be that accidental intruder in the realm of matter, but would rather rise as a creator and governing entity of the realm of matter.”
-R.C. Henry, The Mental Universe –
The Cohenization Project 
As I read this week’s post, my thoughts feel stymied by what is happening in the world around me. Yet another LQBTQ+ shooting. Yet another anti-Semitic plot is discovered. Another homeless person attacked. Another person on their way to work on the subway is slashed. My heart is hurting. My gut is in knots. My spirit feels bruised.
We are all connected but insist on being divided. How is it that some are aware of our deep connections while others are so oblivious? There are those who would rather fight to the death to keep their associations small and ingrown rather than enjoying the uniqueness of the other souls around them. And what happens if there is an undiagnosed or untreated mental illness? Hate coupled with mental illness is a recipe for disaster. We have people walking around feeling untethered, without any meaningful connection to others and feeling disconnected from themselves. I don’t have a global answer for this. The only thing I can think of is to pay attention to those within my sphere of influence and to reach out if I sense that they need help.
When you discover another kindred spirit along this journey it is nothing short of magical. Those relationships should be nurtured, nourished and protected. Can we do that without excluding others? Yes we can. When I was a child I thought as a child. I looked at cliques or other exclusive groups with longing eyes. I wanted to belong even if it meant excluding others. I wanted them to tell me that I was enough.
When I think of being tethered, I imagine a lifeline or life support at the other end. I love the words, “I got you.” That statement, that sentiment, immediately calms me down. I can exhale. If I was white water rafting and fell out of the raft, my panic would be minimized because I knew that someone had me. Mountain climbers are tethered so that everyone can remain safe and supported. Tethered vs. tied…? If the climbers were tightly tied together rather than tethered they wouldn’t get very far. “Tied up” with a project…”tied down” to an existence…either way I think I prefer being tethered. It seems much more effortless.
There are times when I question whether my connection with someone is real. But then we connect somehow and the doubt goes away. I love the feeling of thinking about someone only to have them call or text or make themselves available in some way. That is such a curiously comforting and reassuring feeling. Carl Jung talked about synchronicity. I think the term synchronicity is defined in a few ways. But to me that’s an example of synchronicity. It’s as though we have transcended time and distance. There is a statement I saw on Google that said, “Synchronicity is a powerful ‘wink’ from the Universe telling us that yes, we’re on the right track.” For me, it’s a reminder that I have a lot to be grateful for in knowing that person. And it’s a reminder that, yes, we are truly tethered without question. And that the tethering conduit flows in both directions. Those are the moments that nurture my spirit and soothe my soul.
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