Community is living and breathing all around us. We walk though them, work in them, compete as them. Together we are community. If our external community is a living, breathing organism are we not our own living community, and I’m not just talking about eyelash mites.
The human body is a complex thing. As I sit here I can hardly comprehend the information coursing though my body in order to type these words. I’m no scientist, that’s for sure but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that there is something wonderful about this mass of blood, muscle, skin and bones that we call home. And while we might think that it’s all about the neurons firing around our noggin we’re beginning to understand that the heart plays a significant ‘thinking’ role.
The Institute of HeartMath concluded in a recent research study* that “with each beat, (the heart) not only pumps blood, but also transmits patterns of neurological, hormonal, pressure, and electromagnetic information through (extensive communication) networks.”
My non-scientific, awkward interpretation of this in relation to community is that an understanding of the communication network within us – between our heart and brain is critical to the health of our external community.
I have recently started meditating and I am slowing understanding that my internal dialogue – the stories I tell myself, the scenarios I create, are clearly linked to how I experience and engage with my community. As I start to feel compassion for myself, I feel a greater ability to feel compassion and empathy for others.
Einstein said (and I think it is worthwhile sharing all of it) “a human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Our environment and our community are revealed as intelligent and through patience we meet the world as it is. Our strength comes from an ability to do this with compassion – for ourselves, and our community.
*R. McCraty, M. Atkinson, D Tomasino, & R.T. Bradley, “The Coherent Heart Heart–Brain Interactions, Psychophysiological Coherence, and the Emergence of System-Wide Order, Institute of HeartMath, pg.50 http://www.heartmath.org/