Finding Our Way Home

Our autonomy and independence often rise up to reinforce a skeptical view of seeing our inner world/cosmos as being held in balance by anything that is not in our control but this modern tendency can be addressed by learning to be open to more than one perspective. As an example if we use our imagination to catapult ourselves into outer space we would see not just how tiny we are in comparison to the rest of the universe but also how the structure of galaxies and planetary systems are somehow held together by what appears to be empty space. If we were then able to shrink ourselves to the size of a molecule or atom and hang out within our own body we would most likely see a familiar scene as electrons and protons would be revolving around the nucleus of a particular molecule. We might consider that an individual atom is nothing by itself, that it has nothing at all in common with the complicated and technologically advanced human being of today. It does appear odd, unless one begins to think about what could be the solitary life of an atom, a group of electrons that tend to orbit one nucleus which has the ability to change, the ability to give away and take back parts of its self. Nowhere it would seem is an atom ever really alone, it is in constant contact with others around it and even if it were isolated by the use of some cruel mechanical device it would still be connected to the source of its creation. Individuals spend their entire life trying to find that thing or vocation about which they revolve; individuals wonder if they will ever find an orbit in which they will truly be at home, they wonder whether or not they or anybody else will ever come close to understanding the gravity of their existence. So perhaps it is fitting that in some ways a human life does in fact mirror the structure of an atom! It is these tiny planetary/universal structures that indeed make up our ensouled bodies/embodied souls. Now it goes without saying that there is not one central physical molecule or planet within a person’s body but by being open to different perspectives we can easily see the reality (metaphorical validity) or need of things to be held in balance by some sort of gravitational force that is not us. The journey of identifying this force as a (our) divine center involves the admission that in as much as the complexity of the modern world is not an illusion so too is our capacity to see beyond ourselves not an illusion.