You are Part of It

The nerve cell body has extensions called axons and dendrites. This capability enables the cell to bring information to it from other cells and transmit information to the other cells with which it has made a connection. In the macro human sense we function in these two ways and we are conscious our own existence and functioning. We could call this ability the capability of the synapse, the tiny space between the end of a dendrite or axon and the other cell it is exchanging information with. It is the space between that allows consciousness which allows choice.

The dominant cultural influences of our times, Christianity, Science, and Capitalism, define a range of human identity that leaves us collectively with a vision of personhood as being separate from our deeper experience of spirituality in religious terms, being an objective material observer of experience in scientific terms, and being a private engine of material acquisition in an industrially powered social economy of monetized exchange.

My original idea of how to define Love as an organizing principal for human systems was formed like this; Love = consciousness of mutually beneficial exchange across semi-permeable boundaries. I thought that would be a good systems oriented working definition. Now I want to change the systems definition of Love to; Love = Consciousness of existing and potential mutually beneficial exchange across semi-permeable boundaries.

In his books, Guns, Germs & Steel, and Collapse, Jared Diamond makes it clear that sustainable production of excess food in any society is the key to development and the long-term ability to thrive. For an economic system to sustain our natural foundation, as opposed to destroy it, our way of relating with the environment needs to be mindful of our dependence on the ability of the earth to provide us with abundant food. Jared Diamond, in Collapse, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, identifies five factors involved in the collapse of civilizations throughout history.

Examining the relationship between water and life is the easiest way to see that we have to respect the non-separate nature of our individuality as co-occurring and interdependent with the separate nature of our individuality. What type of relationship do we have to soil, water, and the atmosphere? How individual or alone are we? One of the primary signals that we are separate and alone is the fact that we have physical boundaries like skin and cell walls.