All
of a Piece
“There
is more to self than our personal history.”
Carol
Proudfoot-Edgar (On the Transpersonal)
Carol Proudfoot-Edgar is
a Lakota Shaman. I studied with her for about four years in the
1990's. One of the greatest teachings she gave me was that I am not
simply my personal history. Her picture of the universe as a web fits
securely with the images that theoretical physicists, such as Fritjof
Capra (Web of Life), draw of the way all things in the universe are
knit together and all one piece. There is a video of circulating on
the web in which Neil Degrasse Tyson explains what we know so far
about dark matter. It forms a web-like structure that seems to hold
the universe together. Interestingly, it is not composed of the same
elements that we are, nor does it match in composition the rest of
known cosmic material.
Perhaps you are not
interested in science, theoretical or otherwise, but I find the
intersection of ancient stories, such as the Native American one of
spider weaving the great web of life, and the scientific vision of an
expanding universe held together by dark matter extremely
interesting. One is guided by deep intuition, the other by ever more
complex scientific exploration, but both arrive at the same
understanding. The first satisfies my soul, the other, my brain.
Carol's teaching about
the web is this: we are each at different places on the web at
different junctures of our lives. And like a spider, or an insect,
our movement affects the entirety of that web. In other words, when
we tweak a strand, the whole web responds. We affect not only the
connections around us but those far distant from us. That
understanding makes it ever more important that we grow in
consciousness and wisdom; that we reinforce the strength of the web
rather than weakening it. We are, regardless of who we are, and where
we are, just as important to the health of the web as any other. I
will never be a Neil Degrasse Tyson, but I am determined to be the
very best me I can be. It is my responsibility to leave this strand
stronger than I found it.
It helps to remember
Carol's teaching on the transpersonal—that we are one person, but
we are greater than this one person living this one lifetime. We are
also part of the All, part of one another, and part of nature. When
we see an eagle or a deer, and our heart leaps with joy, when we
watch an ocean sunset, when we look with love into the eyes of
another, we are in them and they are in us. Like dark matter, we are
all of a piece and we are holding our universe together.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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