“…the paradox of human existence is that we can only affirm our experience as unique and individual because we connect and communicate with others.”
I believe it is virtually impossible for us to live without one another. We are all interconnected and depend so astoundingly upon each other in this one big circle we call home.
Today I was particularly mindful of the fish that I enjoyed with almost childlike delight at lunch. Mindful of the mother of the fisherman who caught the fish and deeply thankful to her for raising and nurturing him. Grateful to the people who worked in the factories that manufactured the fishing nets; and I wondered if the nets were made of nylon. Wallace Carothers invented the material; I remember because sixteen years ago I had researched the subject at the local library when it was discovered that my son’s hyperactivity was due to wearing nylon and not a symptom of a learning disability.
What a paradox, the very invention that brought me sleepless nights has also brought me so much enjoyment in other ways, something I am learning to be more mindful of. I thought of rubber tappers I had seen in the deeply shaded rubber estates of Malaysia – speaking to each other in Tamil as they collected latex in the tropical humidity. The latex that produced the tyres on the truck that brought the fish to the market. I reflected deeply on them and all the people involved; interconnected – right up to the cook who battered the fish from flour that was hopefully made from wheat grown in the fields of this beautiful country of ours by our own Australian farmers. I felt a connection with all of them as I saw them in the mirror of my mind. And as always, it made me feel fittingly small as an individual, yet at the same time infinite because I am part of this glorious inter-being.
I sent a gentle smile to each one of them and spent a few minutes to communicate my thanks in a meditation of thanksgiving for the roles they played, collectively to bring the fish to me for my lunch today.
I believe it is virtually impossible for us to live without one another. We are all interconnected and depend so astoundingly upon each other in this one big circle we call home.
Today I was particularly mindful of the fish that I enjoyed with almost childlike delight at lunch. Mindful of the mother of the fisherman who caught the fish and deeply thankful to her for raising and nurturing him. Grateful to the people who worked in the factories that manufactured the fishing nets; and I wondered if the nets were made of nylon. Wallace Carothers invented the material; I remember because sixteen years ago I had researched the subject at the local library when it was discovered that my son’s hyperactivity was due to wearing nylon and not a symptom of a learning disability.
What a paradox, the very invention that brought me sleepless nights has also brought me so much enjoyment in other ways, something I am learning to be more mindful of. I thought of rubber tappers I had seen in the deeply shaded rubber estates of Malaysia – speaking to each other in Tamil as they collected latex in the tropical humidity. The latex that produced the tyres on the truck that brought the fish to the market. I reflected deeply on them and all the people involved; interconnected – right up to the cook who battered the fish from flour that was hopefully made from wheat grown in the fields of this beautiful country of ours by our own Australian farmers. I felt a connection with all of them as I saw them in the mirror of my mind. And as always, it made me feel fittingly small as an individual, yet at the same time infinite because I am part of this glorious inter-being.
I sent a gentle smile to each one of them and spent a few minutes to communicate my thanks in a meditation of thanksgiving for the roles they played, collectively to bring the fish to me for my lunch today.
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