Connection

There is no easy way to describe what connection means to me. Perhaps it is enough to say that I know what I experience, but then it gets difficult to find words that describe that experience.

I know that when I was walking in the small woods surrounding my cabin, I felt a deep connection with the trees and the ground. The memory of that experience is fresh in my awareness today. I remember what it meant to stand on my front small deck and feel the presence of trees in front of me. I also remember the wet shoreline by the lake, feeling its wetness even though I never bent over to touch it.

I know what it feels like each morning to stand before a burning canadle and swirling incense. The sound of my singing bowl travels all through my body and I can feel it all around me. I move my body in familiar patterned gestures, and the experience fills my entire skin. I often ignore my sensations and feel a connection with the whole universe, even though I am sitting still on my bed. It helps when I am not impeded by clothing and my body is free to reach out to feel where I am and what is happening.

I know what it feels like to be connected with a friend when they walk towards me or sit at my table. I feel the connection in every hug, no matter who they are. I look around the circle of friends who come together in my Sangha. I feel connected to each of them, but in different and specific ways.

None of this experience of connection has happened in a flash. It has not happened without clearing my mind through repeated acts of concentration. My sense of touch plays a frequent role in my experience of connection. I touch trees, I touch my desk, I touch friends. Sometimes I let go of my senses and that allows me to exprience what it means to be connected to all that I cannot see or touch.

To anyone who might want to know what I mean by connection, there is no easy answer. I only can offer that they enter into my experience. I offer that they use their senses to initially be connected and then let go of that sensation to be deeply connected. Being connected in this way gets easier with practice. With practice, the experience of connection comes easier. For me, the experience of connection lingers and stays me the more I let it take hold of me.

It is something of a paradox. The more I let go, the deeper I experience connection.