People Need Support
"Isolation is the dream killer.” - (Barbara Sher)
Dear Friend
How long have human beings, like us, lived on this planet? The estimates vary according to the source, but suffice to say, compared to a single life span, we’ve been here for a long time.
Can you imagine how it would feel to live for one thousand years? Five hundred thousand?
Here we are now, behind us an unbroken line of ancestors, all of whom had to live so that we might have our time. On a cosmic scale, our lives are like a flash of sunlight reflected on the surface of water. The physical elements that make up our bodies, forged in the explosion of distant stars, inconceivable dimensions of time.
If we were to call ourselves star people it would not be such a fanciful idea.
We need each other in this brief sparkle we call our lives. From the beginning of our species we have gathered together to share food, shelter, warmth, stories and music.
Deep down at the core of who we are, we are social creatures. It’s a rare one who prefers isolation over connection. Time spent alone, chosen, can be one of life’s great pleasures. I’m speaking here of enforced isolation. When our life circumstances overwhelm us, when we hide parts of ourselves for fear of the judgement of others.
People need each other. We always have. This will never change.
People need support. Sometimes it’s practical, monetary. But what is the message when another being gives of themselves, shares some of their fleeting light? Each kind act or word is a light in the darkness.
We’re not here to solve each others problems. To take on the life challenges of another, even if we do so out of the purest most loving intention, is to deny them the growth that comes from finding our own way.
What people need is not to feel alone. Enforced isolation, isn’t that what our prisons are built around?
It’s been said that the chaos and horror we are witnessing in our world is the desperate clawing and slashing of a dying order. Like Smaug, Tolkien’s fire breathing dragon, malignant, inhumane powers are thrashing out their last moments on our earth.
In western mythology, the dragon symbolises the human ego. The dragon lusts for things it has no use for. Gold. The maiden.
Are we living through a time of transformation? Yes, I think so. Evolution is an ongoing process. Will we see a time of peace? Yes.
When will we see it?
When we become peaceful. The personal peace we have agency over. Our decision to notice when our friends, family, neighbours, fellow human beings are in need of connection. A kind word. The gift of a shared moment.
And when the dragon of our false selves goads and torments us with our smallness and weakness, remember.
Ultimately the friendship at the heart of the Fellowship of the Ring, the humble loving heart of the Hobbit. Love is the source of our salvation from suffering.
Humans.
In love we overcome.
Till tomorrow
Love
Mikey