Cosmic Connections

Reflections on Cosmic Connections

For some time now I have understood the cosmos (i.e. the universe) to be a living whole. That is, everything is alive and everything is connected—an infinite regression of living beings, from the infinitely small to the unimaginably large.

With this understanding as a starting point, my intention—and my challenge—has been to actually perceive the cosmos as such. I find that this perception does not come easily, probably because it involves using something other than merely our five physical senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing. It involves a shift in consciousness.

In my experience, the perceptual faculty that we use to sense the cosmos as a living, connected whole is the heart. Of course, I do not mean the physical organ that pumps blood throughout the body. I mean the meta(beyond)-physical heart, with which we love and through which we relate to other beings.

It is through this capacity of the heart to relate that the power of cosmic connections is realized. There is unlimited personal power in connecting to the myriad of beings in the cosmos. As I see it, these beings include: 1) the beings within our own psyche, such as the ego or personality, the inner child, the shadow or dark self, the masculine self, the feminine self and the soul; 2) the beings who appear in our dreams; 3) the beings who live within our bodies, such as atoms, molecules, cells, bacteria, parasites and organs; 4) other living humans; 5) our ancestors, including all humans who have lived and died on the planet throughout history; 6) the sentient beings who reside throughout the universe, including in other dimensions; 7) the beings who exist in what we perceive as symbolic form, such as numbers or geometric shapes; 8) animals of all species, shapes and sizes; 9) insects; 10) trees; 11) plants; 12) the elements, including earth (e.g. rock and crystals), water, air and fire; 13) individual planets and other celestial bodies; 14) solar systems; 15) individual stars of many species and sizes; 16) groups of stars, such as galaxies.

Especially as adults, we modern, “civilized” humans can live a dull, uninspired, often self-destructive existence when we are not connected with the cosmos. We work, we sleep, we consume. We isolate ourselves from the other beings in the cosmos by living in enclosed boxes and traveling in enclosed containers on wheels or with wings or hulls. We desperately attempt to numb ourselves to the boredom of a disconnected existence through entertainment, vacations, drugs or mindless preoccupations of various sorts.

Once we begin consciously establishing connections with the beings in the cosmos within us, beneath us, above us and next to us, we experience the wonder and joy that we may remember feeling as children. Remember laying in a field of grass looking up at the clouds and simply feeling alive? That was the feeling of relating to the other beings in the cosmos. The Native Americans referred to this cosmic community of beings as “all our relations.”