Connection - The Soul's Purpose

Once upon a time there was nothing but connectedness. Connectedness was not conscious of itself because it was all there was—it just was.

And so it was in our far away time, that connectedness knew nothing of itself or anything else because there was nothing else—it just was.

Then one day, connectedness divided into two—both of connectedness but now separated from each other physically. Like the cells of a growing embryo, it divided. And each of the two separated entities of connectedness divided again and again and again and so on until there were millions of individual and separate entities or cells of connectedness.

When physical separation occurred, consciousness arose... because now there was something else of which to be aware. Consciousness is defined as "the state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings." (Oxford dictionary)

As they began to consciously become aware they were physical separations, they forgot the natural feeling of 'connectedness.' They felt disconnected.

Now seeing themselves as one mere entity in amongst millions, they felt insignificant and insecure. They felt they were worth less somehow?

Their awareness of being apart led to a loss of the sense of belonging. Everything was now outside of them and they looked outwardly for everything.

Conscious awareness of reality (separation) was at odds with the natural state from which they had originated (connectedness) so they lived in a state of internal disharmony where what they felt and what they thought or saw did not align.

Perhaps it wasn't supposed to be like this... Perhaps something had gone 'wrong.' But what? And why?

Maybe it's not that there was something wrong with their environment. Maybe, they thought, there was something wrong with them?

Maybe they did something wrong? Were they separate because they were abandoned? Rejected? Why?

As they grew accustomed to their new sense of awareness, of mind consciousness, they analysed their environment and drew conclusions. They must have been expelled due to being faulty in some way... perhaps they had been faulty and expelled. This led to feelings of unworthiness, and loneliness and powerlessness.

The feeling was painful; unbearable. They had to do something about it. It was too painful to exist in this sorry, sad state.

Some attempted to avoid feeling at all and ignore the pain. This further separated them until they completely disconnected and in this state of complete powerlessness suffered depressions.

Some tried to suppress or numb the pain and found pain-killers of all sorts. The effect was only ever temporary and once worn off they needed stronger ones. They found addictions.

Some blamed themselves and punished themselves—it felt better to berate themselves. They found self-harm.

Some sought to escape the pain by seeking pleasures from outside of themselves. They found sex with strangers and alcohol and drugs and all things temporarily pleasurable. But nothing freed them completely.

Some knew they could not deny or numb or escape what they saw, so they sought to change what they saw; believing that if they tried hard enough they could create a different outlook. They busied themselves in different ways. Some found careers and business and they built things around themselves to change what they saw. But no matter how much they acquired, they couldn't shake the feeling of something still missing.

Some attached themselves to others to cure their loneliness... and found comfort in being able to relate. They found co-dependency.

Some had children to remind themselves of the real feeling of connection. But the children grew up and left.

Some asserted themselves over others to feel more significant. They became abusive towards others and inflicted physical and mental and emotional pain and created fear.

Or became rulers or took positions of power over others and created hierarchy, rules, laws and enforced them—further separating one from the other with class, status, and position, ideas of right and wrong. Arguments and power battles ensued.

Some took personal responsibility for their unhappy situations and sought to identify and make better what was 'wrong' with them and they committed to improving themselves. They found self help and began the task of growth beyond themselves. Out poured therapies and treatments and life-styles.

Some sought out others who they deemed wiser or older to provide answers. These found religion or spirituality or gurus.

There were all sorts of varieties of what the separated parts did to console their sadness in the empty feeling of worthlessness. Or to escape it. Or to change it. Or to rise beyond it. Or to fill the void.

But there was nothing ‘wrong.’ The divisions of connectedness had simply become aware that they were apart from the others physically—this awareness evaluated and interpreted and responded to its environment from the discomfort of what it saw or perceived.

The search outside for connection and belonging began but somewhere else, in something or someone else, and found only attachments to other separations in various guises, temporarily reminding them of what connectedness felt like.

These divided parts of connectedness were actually completely perfect, part of a perfect process, and in fact mini replicas or incarnations of the oneness from whence they came but they were concluding they were separate to that due to their now awareness of otherness.

Years passed. Each separated part was now reduced in size. Each growing tired and weary and sad and lonely and losing more and more connection to itself, suffering and becoming ill with depressions and fatigue, anxieties and angers. Riddled with ailments and in constant need for more and more attachments, medications to treat their symptoms, bring back sensations of feeling connected again. The awareness that they were dying arose... now mortality was a conscious reality. And so too, the notion of 'survival,' reproducing to 'survive' and continue the search for whatever it was they felt was missing.

There were offspring born of the separated parts and those further separations grew up in 'survival' mode repeating what they were taught. The parents unable to give true connection due to them never knowing it themselves. Many parents further separating themselves from their children and those children believing they too were separate and perhaps that meant they weren't 'good enough'/something was 'wrong' with them.

Those children mainly had the same life of the parents but each generation more aware of the inadequacies of the last, and widening the search outside for connection, heightening their levels of consciousness/awareness. Sadly though mainly still attaching to things and people instead of connecting to themselves.

Most though of all the separated parts were so damaged by never having known or able to remember connectedness, their attachments or dependencies were a poor substitute, and they died having lost connection to themselves and never truly feeling they could ever find it.

Pretty sad huh? Why does the story matter to us? Let’s look at that in Chapter Two...