How connected are you?

Being Connected

“No man is an island, entire of himself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

                                  John Donne

“New paradigm thinking, relevant to all human endeavor, posits the interconnectedness of all people…This is not just an economic, social, or emotional truth; it is a spiritual, or ultimate truth, and thus will always be reflected across the board in human affairs.”

                                  Marianne Williamson

         When Winston Churchill said, “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key,” he was referring to Russia, but it could also pertain to modern human beings.  Our technology allows us by way of Facebook and Twitter, Skype and Google, to be in touch around the clock, not only with people we know, but with the entire technological world.  We are constantly on our phones and laptops, yet we have never been more isolated and lonely. 

On any given day, seven out of every one hundred people experience clinical depression, and many more carry borderline depression all the time.  There are multiple reasons for this, too numerous to list, but it is safe to say that technology is not helping us to feel ‘connected’ in the truest sense of the word.  As mammals, we need a pack, a tribe, a herd.  We need warm, breathing, caring creatures around us.  Pets help, but we also need the conversation and stimulation afforded by other humans.  We homo-sapiens require a feeling of belonging in order to function optimally.

I went to a neighborhood gathering last weekend and as I was milling and chatting, I realized I hadn’t talked with most of these folks since the last neighborhood party at Christmas.  Several people had died or moved away and some of us didn’t even know.  As an introvert, I have to make an effort to connect with people.  It is my nature to pay more attention to my interior world than the one going on outside myself.  I realize that I need to do a better job of connecting with my neighbors.

 

I have to say, I miss the practice of writing letters and sending them through the mail.  I remember what a rush is was to receive a hand-written letter with a stamp on it; the excitement I felt tearing it open and devouring whatever was inside.  I loved holding it in my hands, reading it over and over, and then pulling out some pretty stationary and writing a long, newsy letter of my own.  I wonder if you miss that, too.  When was the last time you got a good, juicy letter from a friend?  I think that today, I will write a letter to someone I love, then go and buy some lovely stamps and send it off.  I hope you will find a way to be connected, too—one that doesn’t involve a computer.

                          Shalom,

                          Jane