Beyond Mere Interconnectedness
The Hunger for Love and Delight
by Jay McDaniel
The other day I was with some friends who were talking about interconnectedness. "We're all connected with one another," said one friend. "If people only understood how connected we are with one another and with the natural world, the world would be so much better." It all sounded very Buddhist and Whiteheadian, and true as far as things go. And also a little boring. I've heard it too often.
"No, it's more than that," said another. "It's that we need one another." She emphasized need in a way that made me think. The language of interconnectedness is commonplace now and something of a cliche. Unfortunately, for some people the very word evokes a sense of causal relations in the physical world, and that alone. It invites images of chemical reactions and ecological relations: all witnessed from a third-person perspective. You could learn about it in a good biology book.
But when my friend said we need one another, there was a shift to the first-person perspective of lived human experience: to the world of desire for friendship, for mutual support, for communion, for intimacy. Process theologians are well-known for saying that we live in an interconnected world. But how about a world where we can know and enjoy the holy communion of mutuality and intimacy? Don't we hunger for love and delight, too?
"No, it's more than that," said another. "It's that we need one another." She emphasized need in a way that made me think. The language of interconnectedness is commonplace now and something of a cliche. Unfortunately, for some people the very word evokes a sense of causal relations in the physical world, and that alone. It invites images of chemical reactions and ecological relations: all witnessed from a third-person perspective. You could learn about it in a good biology book.
But when my friend said we need one another, there was a shift to the first-person perspective of lived human experience: to the world of desire for friendship, for mutual support, for communion, for intimacy. Process theologians are well-known for saying that we live in an interconnected world. But how about a world where we can know and enjoy the holy communion of mutuality and intimacy? Don't we hunger for love and delight, too?