My Best Self 101 Blog
The other day, my son and I went outside for a walk—what I thought would be a quick stroll to stretch our legs. But to him, it was an adventure. A mission. A treasure hunt.
He stopped at every tree, every leaf, every crack in the pavement. For a full hour, he picked up leaf after leaf, turning them over in his hands, inspecting their veins, their colors, and their edges with reverence. Each one deserved to be seen. Each one was unique. He made sure of it.
You have probably heard the words "polarized" and "division" thrown around quite a bit recently. It seems like people are dividing and isolating themselves from those perceived as different and shutting out those who do not share their opinions or beliefs. The tendency to favor in-groups and disassociate from out-groups is an age-old human problem. However, the principle of interconnectedness may help transcend the “us vs them” mentality. Interconnectedness—the idea that all living and non-living things are connected – has roots in Buddhist teachings, stating that nothing lives or exists in isolation. Instead, we exist as part of an intricate whole that is made up of interrelated parts and mutual support (Ikeda, 2012). Interconnectedness tells us we are not independent beings on a solo journey but rather interdependent “matters [that] are mutually influencing one another and co-arising dependently” (Yu et al., 2020, p.1239). According to the principle of interconnectedness, when we move toward the belief that we are isolated beings who can act without consequence to the larger whole, it breeds division, fear, and mistrust (Awakening to the Interconnectedness of Life, 2020). There seems to be a lot of that going around, and perhaps some unique aspects of our modern world make it easier to buy into the notion "us vs them."
We are living mirrors. Each Earth Day, we are reminded of our connection to nature. However, I would like to tell you about a philosopher who was talking about our interconnectedness with nature all the way back in the 1700’s. He was not the first to do so, but he, to my knowledge, was the first philosopher to make interconnectedness a hallmark of his metaphysical system. This philosopher is one Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who is famous for his co-creation of calculus as well as his tomes of philosophical and mathematical thoughts and arguments. Allow me to elucidate Leibniz’s thoughts on our interconnectedness with nature, and then illustrate some of the benefits of thinking about ourselves as “living mirrors.”
Three young monkeys lived in the jungle. After counseling with a wise old teacher, one committed to hear no evil, one to see no evil and one to speak no evil. The monkeys set out on their noble endeavor, but soon became disheartened because their jungle friends didn’t want to be around them anymore and the monkeys were sad and lonely. So, they returned to the wise one for help. “Tell me more about how you are protecting yourself and others from evil,” the wise one asked. The monkeys proudly explained that the one who heard no evil would cover his ears whenever another said something he thought was wrong. The one who saw no evil would close his eyes to others’ perspectives when they clashed with his sense of goodness. And the one who spoke no evil closed his heart and met others with silence in conflict so nothing bad would enter or escape him. “Ah,” said the wise one, “I see. You mistake evil for difference.”
Within a few days of knowing Ivo, I began to realize what it really meant to live. Really living, it turns out, entails a lot more than kicking back and enjoying life. No, Ivo’s eyes and countenance painted a different picture than conventional media portrays in describing the island paradise, Sardinia. Granted, at a first glance, one might be tempted to think Sardinians live longer and happier simply thanks to the beautiful Mediterranean island they call home. (Fastame, 2022). But looks can be deceiving; the sweeping hills, lined with stone walls and crested by golden stalks of wheat, were not always such an endearing sight.
Have you ever reflected on the number of people you’ve met throughout your life’s journey? Try to think of an exact number. Most likely, your head hurts from trying to do this–we come across a myriad of people every day by simply stepping outside our door. Now, how many people would you say you can really count on, those people who would drop everything to help you jumpstart your dead car battery or move into your new house? The number of people you thought of in response to my first question probably decreased significantly, but I’d venture to say that the actual significance of the people you thought of in response to my second question increased. Although we may have unique reasons for why we admire a certain friend, research suggests that compared to each other, we all can reap similar benefits of friendship.
