Earlier today a friend wrote and posted online, in reflecting on yesterday's tragedy, perhaps in searching for a deeper meaning or perhaps in trying to make sense of events, what is the difference between a family living in Yemen and one living in Boston? I wrote the following in response to his question, and thought I would share it with you here.
A different question is how does our perception of events in Boston and Yemen differ?
The movement of energy through the universe, the manifestation of all things, is perceived by each of us uniquely. One of the things that shapes our perceptions of events is our connectedness to others through community; our connectedness to family, to friends, to co-workers, to neighbors, the connectedness we feel with those who live in the same city when we attend a street fair, the connectedness we feel as part of larger communities such as states and nations.
My heart ached yesterday, and continues to ache today, for the people of Boston, for the runners, for the victims and their families; it ached as it did after Newtown, and Aurora, and Tuscon.
Through my own unique experience of community, as perceived at a particular point in time, there is a connectedness with others such that, for me, yesterday was, and is, felt deeply. That is not to say that I do not feel deeply as a result of events on the other side of the planet. For me, the attacks in Mumbai in 2008, the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt in 2011, and in Iran at that same time, the tsunami and earthquake in Japan in 2011, all of these, and more, have touched the heart deeply.
How each of us will connect to events, to the flow of, the unfolding of, events, will differ. It is the manifestation of the universe through us. As we awaken into the heart more deeply, our connectedness, and our experience of connectedness, deepens and broadens.
The difference between a family living in Yemen and a family living in Boston? In each person we meet we see ourselves; each person on this planet is not only our sister and our brother, they are our very selves. And there are moments when that connectedness is felt, is experienced, deeply. And for me Boston, yesterday and today, is one of those moments. My heart aches.