Chapter six
Appreciating the interdependent web of all existence
As you become more sensitive, life becomes
bigger. It is not a small pond; it becomes oceanic. It is not confined to you
and your wife and your children—it is not confined at all. This whole existence
becomes your family, and unless the whole existence is your family you have not
known what life is—because no man is an island, we are all connected.
We are a vast continent, joined in millions of ways.
And if our hearts are not full of love for the whole, in the same proportion our life is cut short.
We are a vast continent, joined in millions of ways.
And if our hearts are not full of love for the whole, in the same proportion our life is cut short.
Osho. Maturity: The Responsibility of Being
Oneself (Osho Insights for a New Way of Living) . St. Martin's Press. p.xvi
Comment:
Osho was not a Unitarian Universalist but he was
an enlightened mystic with a consciousness that encompassed the UU seven
principles and here he describes the seventh.
UUs covenant together to affirm and promote a
respect for the interdependent web of all existence, and Osho points out that
as a person grows and matures, the person’s circle of awareness widens and
moves beyond the experience of immediate relationships to all of existence.
Osho says that unless a person develops an
awareness of the interdependent nature of all of existence, the person has not
lived fully and their life has been cut short. What do you think of this idea?
Rev. Michelle Yates at First Universalist of Rochester, NY said that the future of Universalism will be the expanding of the circle of inclusiveness with unconditional love over the next 20 years. The idea of universal salvation is becoming more common place and is no longer unique to Universalism but universal inclusiveness is still a long way off in the time of increasing nationalism and nativist ideologies.
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