Common Unity

Common Unity

by Linda Heron Wind, Ph.D.

I just returned from a camp where mothers and daughters were together for three days with the grandmothers who facilitated and held energy for the gathering. There were many wonder-filled moments but what stays with me year after year and keeps me wanting to go through all the hard work of creating such a camp the next year is simply a feeling. It is one of those feelings that is difficult to describe since it cannot be truly known without having the experience. If I had to put a word to it, it would be community or common-unity.

Girls and moms who hardly know each other drop into a rhythm of sharing, caring, laughing, crying, and finding out that everyone has the same feelings and concerns, the same challenges and delights. It is hard to say how this actually happens because on the first day it hardly seems possible. Yet, each year, by the second day the deepening occurs and connections begin forming and at the end this feeling is fully present, experienced not just by me but by everyone.

There seems to be a yearning for community in people these days as evidenced by the sense of isolation that many have, each of us in our own lives struggling to be ok and deal with the experiences and challenges that shake our sense of who we are. The illusion of separation, each of us trapped in this physical form separate from others and nature, is at times too much to bear. Only the feeling that comes from connection can free us by shattering the illusion of separation. How can we find a way to come back to what is real? How can we see the common-unity that is always there, connecting us with each other and all that is?

Perhaps the camp is one way, and I know that more and more opportunities for this way of being and living in connection rather than separation, are beginning to emerge. While there always have been groups of people that we call communities, only some of them have common-unity. Common-unity means that when we look at each other we accept our differences and recognize our sameness. There is no judgment of each other's journeys - or our own. All journeys and lives are like no other and each is important to the whole. Both the difference and the sameness are valuable.

I am convinced that the one thing that has the potential to heal all the wounds in the world is connection. Whether it is connection of one human being to another, of humans with nature, or of the different parts of ourselves, it is the type of connection found in common-unity that will heal the world we live in. During this time of great change and acceleration of energy, notice where you find community in your life. Is it common-unity? If not, take whatever steps and risks you must to find it or create it.

Common unity
With one heart at the center
Of diversity

Many colors make
The rainbow's magnificence-
Difference is beauty

If you have comments on these articles or ideas for future topics, call Linda Heron Wind at (585) 924-5620 or send e-mail to LHWind@aol.com.

Page last modified August 6, 2006 by RMC