Warning: Adult language ahead!

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“Stupid motherfuckers!”

“What the fuck is it going to take! Nobody cares!” a man roared out from the bottom of his belly. No despair, just blind rage—projectile thoughts all over the downtown street.

Nobody cared to listen to him—or so he thought. I heard his cry as I sat before my computer, and it highlighted something that I hadn’t considered before: consciousness doesn’t only dwell in the mind.

Let’s consider this in terms of how we have thought of evolution. Historically, we have viewed “the tree of life” as the linear transfer of genes. Put simply, this means that you inherit what came before you—the genetic make-up of your parents.

This view has been questioned recently. The genes we wear may actually offer a non-linear understanding—wisdom into the nature of inter-being.

A study from biologists at the University of Cambridge found that some 145 genes have jumped from microorganisms, like bacteria and viruses, to the human genome. “This means that the tree of life isn’t the stereotypical tree with perfectly branching lineages,” says biologist Alastair Crisp, an author of the new paper. “In reality, it’s more like one of those Amazonian strangler figs where the roots are all tangled and crossing back across each other.”

This is a scientific finding that illustrates a larger truth: we cannot clearly define the separation of an individual and its environment.

How does this connect to the man on the street? Well, as I sat staring at my blank screen, this man gave me the words I was trying to find. And just after I typed the words, he stopped yelling to continue on his way. He freely provided a solution to a dilemma many writers face: how to begin writing.

So now…what the fuck is it going to take?

Well, how about the paradoxical approach of not doing? Wu wei is a Taoist concept—the non-action of going with the flow of the stream of life.

As that study suggests, we are not as purely human as we might have believed. We are part of a network of species. We are not as individual as we have assumed—rather, we are deeply interconnected.

Beyond this scientific evidence suggesting this, let’s bring it back to the mind. Have you ever thought about something, and then instantly someone starts talking about that exact thing? Have you thought of someone, and then they call you right away? Have you ever wanted to start a conversation with someone, and then they turn to speak to you?

We are vibration, vibration is energy. There are no definable edges to our human bodies.

Vibrate with what you want to see in the world. How? Be with what it is you desire as if it were here now. Once you feel it, you are resonating with that possibility. This is a universe of infinite possibilities—do not let yourself be constrained to one.

Of course, no one feeling we have will change the world. I see many daunting problems plaguing the planet. Yet I choose not to dwell on the evils of the world, and instead believe that I can be the change.

We all can.

Let’s not stress ourselves out with doing, doing, doing. Let’s just be and resonate with the possibilities of greater freedom. Anxiety shortens life.

Sit back in your chair or get out a cushion. Be with yourself and resonate your fullest expression of love.

Choose to buy into fear, or make more love. You are the alchemist of energy! That is fucking cool!

We are waking up more and more to the reality of our collective nature—what the Thich Naht Hanh referred to as inter-being. No being is completely independent. We live on food grown from sunlight and water. We breathe recycled air. We come from two humans.

We are cosmic waves riding on wiggling experiences that we have labelled as human.

The only reason I can write this is because “I am”—yet it is not just me. There are 100 trillion bacteria in my body. So what am I? That is something I have sat with and chewed on for hours. I am not this experience. I am the one watching the experience—the experiencer, merging more fully with my experience.

What is my role on this cosmic wave? What is your role?

I don’t know for sure the answer to these questions, but for now, just enjoy the ride as a microcosm and alchemize some vibrations while you’re at it—just like how, without any effort, I broke through my writer’s block by simply opening a blank page and then listening to the world around me.

My karma led me to this. This computer on this day to write you and say; it is going to take all of us, consciously evolving.

We are one with our environment.

Let’s rise to the occasion of this dawning awareness and take steps to create enlightened society.

Let’s be progressive humans. To me, that means feeding myself well and in a way that is good for the planet and taking care of my walking ecosystem—my mind, my neighbors, my family, and the animals and plants around me. With every step, I am learning to trust that the love shared will be returned.

Because energy is neither created nor destroyed—but it can be alchemized.

Let’s consciously evolve, because we can!

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Relephant:

Connection & Inter-being.

The Orchestra of Reality: Living an Interconnected Life.

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Author: Elise Headley 
Image: bzylman/Deviantart
Editor: Callie Rushton
Copy Editor: Travis May
Social Editor: Sara Kärpänen