Held by All-That-Is

It is good to situate ourselves within All-That-Is, understand ourselves as part of Creation, and give a sacred context to our lives. To live in relation to All-That-Is is to reside in the unfathomable and holy immensity of the universe. It is to be part of, and held by, a great unfolding mystery.

It is also to understand that even Psyche is a reflection of All-That-Is, an inner vastness each of us inhabits. As I have aged, I have come to believe that psyche is as expansive as the universe, and as multidimensional. Perhaps Jung was correct when he suggested that at the root of things, at the very core of psyche, we are each connected to All.

If we are all connected, all part of All-That-Is, how are we to justify harming or degrading one another? Surely we humans, and our cultures, are complex, self organizing systems, composed of innumerable parts, and eager for life. We are more alike than different, and we are deeply rooted in shared human experience.

Jung was very much a person of his time. He was intrigued by Indigenous people and spirituality, but seemed to think us rather primitive, childlike, and perhaps not very bright. It was as though Jung failed to grasp the implications of his own thought. Sadly, many of his followers seem to still hold his views.

Had Jung truly listened to Indigenous people, he might have asked,”If our own complex organization, both psyche and culture, fosters diversity and complexity, are we not truly the children of Mother Earth? If we continue to learn and grow throughout our lives, do we not, like her, change, finding new understanding and balance?”

Surely we are not the persons we were at birth, or even last year; nor can we say with certainty the persons we are now are better than those earlier version of ourselves. I suspect the universe is more playful, and learning driven, than directional.

Diversity and complexity may be as well. These tightly interwoven processes that have shaped life on Earth, and therefore psyche, must eventually birth conflict, if only through the multiplication of points of view. Conflict, and the awareness of difference, enhance the creative process, generating new forms, be they autonomous complexes, organisms, or cultures.
In a world of conflict, much depends on our capacity to empathize, to recognize our kinship with others. When we fail to have empathy we begin to imagine ourselves alone, and to act as though the suffering we create does not also harm us. When we place ourselves within All-That-Is, we may remember that self is indeed an illusion. We may also hold our small, brief, fragile lives, and those of all others, with generosity and gratitude, and realize they are indeed sacred.