We are all one – and we’re in it together

Illustration and book: Britta Teckentrup

We wish to share with you all – that you are not alone, you have never been. We are in it together. And we shall lift each other up, higher and higher. We are indeed, as Ram Das said, and maybe more than ever – ‘walking each other home’.” – Canta com Amor 2020

Here we are, fragile, complicated, yet wonderful human beings, sharing this planet together. At times filled with challenges we think we’d never overcome, but worth every drop of sweat. When we struggle and “think” we lose the way, we can remember the only true way home is within. We can look in depth into the mirror, wake up and rise. We can breathe in, feel and know ourselves, breathe out and let go. Layer after layer, sinking inside the all-encompassing love that we are.

It can be painfully hard, but how else is the caterpillar supposed to turn into a butterfly?

Truth is, we don’t need to do this journey alone. We’re not supposed to. We can walk eachother home.

The Israelites did not survive the exodus from Egypt by backpacking alone for 40 years in the desert. They were in it together. Shoulder to shoulder. Heart to heart.
Redwood trees, also known as Sequoioideae, are the largest and tallest trees on this planet. You would think these ancient giants need deep roots to withstand strong winds, floods, earthquakes, fires and storms…, yet their roots only go about 2 meters into the earth. Instead, the redwoods’ roots intertwine. They fuse together. Redwoods actually build a strong foundation by bonding with eachother…
And have you ever seen the amazing and complex construction sites of ants? By cooperating, ants dig huge nests, use their bodies to form bridges, sew leaves together, etc… A colony of ants seems to act like the many cells of one organism.

Could it be that we human beings are more interconnected, interrelated, than we ever could imagine possible?

Kabbalah teacher Chaim Solomon said the following:
“The ultimate of every religion is: love your neighbour as yourself. Which really means, not just be good to other people. It means to truly reach the level where we have absolute certainty and clarity that you and I are the same. Just like me, my fingers are part of my body. I would never do anything to harm my fingers, because I know it harms me.

I believe our connection with eachother is essential for us to thrive. Sharing this life is a privilege, expressing and listening from our heart and soul is a gift, helping eachother is helping us all. This who we are, this is is our human nature.

We don’t really know what is ahead of us. We never really know anything, do we? The only constant is change, as Heraclitus said already in 500 BC. What I do know is that we are the ones who choose our direction. Every single day. I also believe the covid-19 situation is not a social exile. On the contrary, this is a revolution in the most basic aspect of our human self: who we are, how do we relate to one another, and what do we want to weave together to shape our lives, our future and our planet for the better?

The choice is ours. The future is ours.

We can take this time of physical distance to get closer to our own heart. To get to know ourselves, and the ones we really care about. To share ourselves, more truly and openly than we ever did before. To make that phone call we keep postponing. To start a chat with our neighbour. To put seeds for social projects to emerge and create more goodness together.

Lonely-20, ladies and gentlemen, is as bad as a disease as Covid-19. And, although part of the medicine is having people around us physically, the true secret lies in the quality, the authenticity and depth of our relationships. In the first place, the one we have with ourselves, which directly nurtures our relationship with others.

Reach out. Unite. Together, apart. In the most creative ways. We are in this together. Let’s see what magic we can create out of this shared situation, out of our comfort zone, who knows what bright future may await us?
Because there is magic when we meet eachother truly. We remember we are all human, we are all one. We come home, together.