Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer observed that all truth passes through three stages:
- First, it is ridiculed.
- Second, it is violently opposed.
- Third, it is accepted as self-evident.
Such a truth has emerged in our lifetime.
It informs us that we exist as a tiny fragment of an immensely larger interlocking whole in which all of the parts are interconnected and dependent upon each other for survival.
Allow me to repeat that.
We exist as a tiny fragment of an immensely larger interlocking whole in which all of the parts are interconnected and dependent upon each other for survival.
Simply put, everything is connected to everything else.
We exist, not separately, but in communion with all living things.
Life is an interrelated, interdependent phenomenon.
- That is the nature of the universe.
- That is the nature of life.
- Everything is in relationship.
“So, what.” One might respond, and ask, “What is the practical value of that?”
It’s a reasonable question.
The practical value lies in the realization that there are several relationships that are foundational.
These are the foundational relationships of our lives.
These are three relationships out of which all other relationships follow.
- The first is our relationship with our self.
- The second is our relationship with others.
- The third is our relationship with our environment.
If we chose one word to describe what optimizes each of these relationships, our relationship with our self is about health.
Our relationship with others is about kindness.
Our relationship with our environment is about respect.
Our Foundational Relationships
- Self – Health
- Others – Kindness
- Environment – Respect
The quality of our lives reflects the quality of these relationships.
This is a sacred construct that exists as an integral part of reality.
This is not a human construct.
Why do I write that this is a “sacred construct?”
The answer is in the nonreligious understanding of sacred.
It is because these relationships represent that in our lives which, at our peril, we cannot violate, damage, dishonor, or destroy.
When we violate these relationships — our health, our relationships with others, our environment — we suffer.
It’s simply the way life works.
- This is not contrived or fiction.
- It’s not arbitrary or subject to dismissal.
- It’s not in any way negotiable.
- It has nothing to do with gods, religions, or anything supernatural.
How we take care of ourselves, each other, and our environment determines not only the quality of our lives but whether we will live or die.
- These relationships are sacred.
- They are the wellsprings of life.
- We emerged from these relationships.
- We are sustained by them.
We are surrounded by the very sacredness that, historically, we have sought from afar.
This understanding of sacredness must be recognized and addressed as a dynamic reality that is forever being discovered.
It’s not unchanging and vested in the past like archaic dogma.
Always, we are refining our understanding of how to optimize these three foundational relationships: how to better care for ourselves, relate to each other, and nurture our environment.
It’s as Greek philosopher Heraclitus observed, “You cannot step into the same river twice.”
Why is that? It is because the river is forever flowing and changing.
Yet, it remains the same river.
Similarly, our understanding of what optimizes these relationships flows out of a stream of knowledge that continually changes.
- These foundational relationships will always exist.
- Our understanding of how to optimize them evolves as our knowledge grows.
The spirit — from the Latin word spiritus for breath — that animates life exists in, expresses itself through, and is sustained by these foundational relationships.
These are the vessels of life.
- When we destroy any of these relationships — our health, our relationships with others, or our environment — we extinguish the spirit, the breath, of life.
- When we destroy these relationships, there is no place left through which the phenomenon that we call life can express itself, can breathe.
- The vitality is gone as it is for anyone who cannot breathe.
To live a “spiritual” life (if one would like to call it that) — to breathe — or a better word, reverent life, is to honor these three relationships in all their manifestations.
This is the much sought-after key to the concept of sustainability: the understanding that we must leave this planet as we found it or improve it so those generations that follow us will have the same, or better, opportunities that we have had.
This is a daunting challenge given that we add in excess of 80 million people a year to our planet.
That is an addition of more than 1,500,000 people each week to feed, clothe, house, educate, employ, transport, govern, protect and keep healthy.
The key to sustainability is to take the word apart.
Make two words of it: sustain ability, i.e., our ability to sustain these three foundational relationships: our health, our relationships with others, and the health of our environment.
How do we do that?
To do it, we have to identify our responsibilities.
So often, it’s asked, “What is the purpose or the meaning of life?”
These questions send us in circles.
The appropriate question is, “What are the responsibilities of life?”
The answer, again, lies in taking the word apart and making two words of it: response abilities.
We must develop our abilities to respond to life’s challenges and stimuli so as to optimize and sustain our three foundational relationships.
This understanding of sacredness does not mandate worship but responsibility.
Right living is about behavior, not worship.
Salvation, saving ourselves from harm or loss, is not delivered by a supreme being, it is earned by us.
The forgiveness of our “sins” lies not in the hands of some external god.
It’s found in our alignment with the uncompromising demands of the reality in which we exist.
At this time in our evolution, this understanding of sacredness is easily within our perception and grasp.