Some years ago there was a TV series called “Touch” starring Kiefer Sutherland as the father of an autistic child, Jake.
Although it appeared to be a bit of an odd story at first, as the episodes unfolded, it was about the connectedness of all things.
Jake saw the world, past, present and future, as numbers.
He was obsessed with numbers and although they made no sense to anyone else, his father began to realise that Jake was sending him on various “tasks” whether they were to reunite families, address wrongs done to others or save someone from harm. As you watched, the significance of various numbers became clear as they turned up again and again in an episode. Jake was talking to his father through the numbers that he became fixated on and it was up to his father to decipher them, as Jake never spoke, never had spoken.
This TV series showed us that we are all, in some way, connected.
That we should never under-estimate the impact of our actions on other people, no matter how small we think those actions may be.
Woven into the story is a cell phone that goes around the world, people make videos on it and then drop it into some random stranger’s bag or backpack.
A singer becomes internationally known, a father traces lost photos of his deceased daughter and so it goes.
There are times when we feel so alone, so separate from everyone else. Loneliness is the biggest disease on the planet. We feel that the world is against us. That there is no-one who understands. Yet that could not be further from the truth. Because we are all connected.
You just have to watch the news, those situations where some natural disaster has occurred, destroying homes and lives; where wars are being fought and people threatened. The Internet is filled with images of soldiers carrying the injured children of those who are their enemies; of people risking lives to save an animal; of people coming to the assistance of those in danger or in need.
It is at those times that our need to reach out and help, to show compassion and love, suddenly leaps to the fore. That inner light of divinity suddenly burns brightly and we set aside our thoughts of judgement and racism and hatred.
For a brief moment we become One.
This is the time when we practice random acts of kindness without a thought of our own gain.
In the moments of deepest need and struggle and pain we are able to put aside our differences and for a brief time become united in a common goal. In these times the ego has no place, all pretences are dropped and we move and act as one, often without even thinking.
It is when you are able to touch people at this deep level that they connect with their own Oneness. Even if it is for a short while only, that connection is experienced and honoured.
In spite of the apparent craziness of the world we live in, under the surface there is a more powerful, more stable thread that connects us all. Jake understands this, as I believe all autistic children do (and yet we label them damaged!)
This TV series taught us a great deal about the not-so-random-moments of life. It is for us to recognise them and to be in awe of the synchronicity of the world in which we live.
There is Divine order and we are part of that order.
I think it is a bit sad that often the only time we experience this Oneness is when there is desperate or urgent need in others. Isn’t it time we started acknowledging our connectedness and living it in the every day? Wouldn’t the world be a happier, kinder place?
What impact are you having on the world around you?
