Tapping into the abundance of our connectedness

I have been a nomad all my life. For the past almost thirty years I have been an ethnographer of imagination. My curiosity for human perception of the material world brought me to the United States to study Product Semantics. As I shifted my attention from the material things I designed to the human mind where everything material made sense, my own consciousness began to expand. I travelled around the world to study people, cultures and change.

My curiosity for uniqueness of cultures and creativity of individuals led me on a new path of discovery- I began to notice the commonalities between us and the connections that make us human. I began to care less about my identity and ego and grew more curious about the invisible bonds of curiosity, compassion and co-creation that forms communities. I realized that the most sustainable and deeply rooted motivations for building communities are “caring and sharing”. That is indeed the foundation of building a sustainable future.

The clients I serve have largely been interested in catering to people’s need for happiness, comfort, convenience and instant gratification and cravings of their bodies for pleasure. As I travelled around the world and observed what really mattered to people, these human goals began to feel like inconsequential. My growing consciousness about our connectedness create in me appreciation for cultivating humility and to look for a higher purpose for my creativity.

Through this pondering I have developed a perspective on the universe and my place in it. I reflected deeply about the Film “Powers of Ten” made by Charles and Ray Eames which I first watched 47 years ago. It brings into my awareness the vastness and abundance of the universe around and inside of us. It makes me realize that my consciousness of this universe is limited only by my ego. A conscious effort to step out of my ego helps me expand “imagination and consciousness”.

“Beyond is infinite in all directions. What if consciousness were to remove its focus from your personal set of thoughts, your personal set of emotions, and your limited sensory input? Would you become untethered from the bonds of the personal self and be set free to explore beyond?” Michael Stinger in The Untethered Soul

With this awakening of consciousness I see the world with fresh eyes. Yesterday I saw an image of the earth shot from the space by NASA.

There is an interesting story behind the image of the earth released by NASA. A designer, author, software developer and a senior executive at WebMD, Stuart Brand, better known as the creator of The Whole Earth Catalogue and the Long Now Foundation, while on an LSD trip on the roof of his house in San Francisco , became convinced that seeing an image of the whole Earth would change how we think about the planet and ourselves. He campaigned and convinced NASA to release the image in public domain. Almost sixty years after the release of this image, it had a profound impact on me. It triggered a poem inside me. Here I present the poem with the hope it will evoke in us an impulse to play our part in preserving the beauty of mother earth by tapping into our connectedness and learning to care and share.

a luminous dot

all my life

the moon and the sun

were a source of inspiration

for my imagination

the stories I read

and the mythologies

i followed

imbibed in me

a belief that

the moon

is a symbol

of romanticism

and the sun

the provenance of

divine energy

until one day

i saw the image

of the mother earth

captured from

the outer space

in the expanse of

the universe

i saw in that image

the romance of the moon

and the power of the sun

i realized

that the dirt i stand on

the blue oceans

the green forests

and the snow covered mountains

the flora and fauna

and the birds and the animals

the diversity of forms

i see around me

we are all just

a spec

of the luminescence

when seen from

the outer space

I wonder if

there is life out there

and if they look at

the earth

and imagine

stories of

romance

does the

luminous dot

in the sky

fill their heart

with joy

and their imagination

with stories

now i see myself

as a spec

in the luminous dot

that is our mother earth