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The world has taught us too much independence to the point of our own destruction. Now we have forgotten that we are living in an inherently interdependent world. We have been brought up to be strong and independent and to rely only on our own strength because ultimately we are alone in the universe. Yet life is not worth living without deep and caring interdependent relationships with our loved ones and without concern for the betternment of the whole humanity. Religion has taught us that salvation is purely an individual thing but how can we be really happy in heaven knowing that many are suffering? Are we ever really alone in our spirituality? Can one be really free knowing that the rest are slaves? We are told that man is supreme over nature and lord it over nature in his independence even to the point of destroying nature and eventually destroying ourselves. We have sacrificed love and relationship in the service of autonomy; idolized private property to the point of making others starve to death; we have asserted our national independence even to the point of destroying lesser economies just to benefit our own; we have glorified individualism in an era where all humanity is actually working as a group to make our society a reality. We have become so impersonal to the point of being mechanical and machine-like. In an interconnected and intricately related world, we have asserted our independence like cancer cells sickening the whole body of humanity. Is this already irreversible just like a terminal cancer? Can we do something to unlearn our false independence and put real independence in the context of interdependence? The answer lies somewhere in our hearts and in the work of our hands...

Tags: Independence Interdependence

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