Authentic Human Connection Is the Key to Life's Purpose


“You know the only thing that’s made the whole thing (life) worth while has been those few times when I’ve been able to really connect with another human being.”
Colin Firth, A Single Man

In the 2009 film “A Single Man,” the character of George Falconer (played by Colin Firth) is struggling to make sense out of life following the death of his long-term companion, Jim. It’s during the turmoil of this struggle that he comes to the great realization that the one thing that makes life valuable-- that is most essential-- is the deep human connection that bonds heart to heart and soul to soul between two vulnerable individuals.

George discovers the key to the brilliance of human life: The great ability we humans have to reflect upon and know ourselves, to connect with the Spirit inside of us and to follow the Light that emanates from within our souls: The very Light that completes us and makes us whole—Supreme Love.

And it’s the journey into the warmth of that great all-embracing Light and Love that enables us to open up and be vulnerable enough to know ourselves and to share ourselves with each other. For when we share ourselves mutually with one another on the deepest of spiritual levels, we experience the sanctity of witnessing, caressing and affirming each other’s souls.

George is indeed a blessed man. I believe there are few people in this world who reach his level of spiritual-mental-emotional-physical intimacy with themselves and thus others. Most of us are too afraid to honestly know ourselves and share ourselves completely with others, even those persons we are most attracted to on every level of our being. There are couples, spouses, who have been together for 40 years and who have never known their individual selves, much less each other. Instead of knowing themselves well enough to have a truly intimate connection of mind-body-spirit between them, they’ve busied themselves with all that’s unnecessary in this life; all of the things and distractions that keep them from knowing themselves and one another.

If you want to be supremely happy in this life you have to know yourself—and love yourself—from inside-out. You have to journey to the center of your soul and love all that you find there. You have to allow your Higher Power to fully love you and then you have to be willing to face your fears of vulnerability, to walk through those fears and to go for that deep spiritual soul-sharing connection with others. At that point you will face your greatest challenge of all: Allowing others to love you in all of your spiritual nakedness.

Even if you connect on the very deepest level with only one person in this life, it will make all of your life worth living. You will awaken from your self-imposed spiritual death and you will see all of life in the authentic brilliance of God’s Light and Love. You will truly breathe for the first time the sweetest breath of all: Authentic Love.

Comments

  1. E.S. KraayJanuary 6, 2012 at 9:30 AM

    Namaste! I salute the God within you!

    I STRONGLY recommend the film "I AM" (http://iamthedoc.com/) to you and all of your readers. It was distributed sparingly in the theatres last year but is now available on DVD and through Netflix among others. I saw it several months ago and it has helped re-define my outlook on life. At the heart of the film is the simple but profound message: We are all connected. "WE" means all of creation, and is not limited to humankind.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No One Can Calm Your Codependent Crazies, But You

Image
Ah, the codependent crazies. Those needy, needy feelings. I remember well the deep emotional pain in the pit of my stomach: The throbbing sting of shame, fear, loneliness and anxious desperation. Those feelings that are like fingernails on the blackboard of your soul. They eat you alive from within as they dig deeper and deeper into the black hole of your inner-emptiness. Yes, I remember them well. And I remember evenings of mental and emotional insanity-- squirming with a magazine, pacing back and forth, indulging in chocolate, chasing up and down the stairs hoping the doorbell would ring, and staring endlessly at the telephone for a sign of hope. All I needed was a call from my false higher power; a call that would help me to know that I was OK, that I was needed, that I was worth thinking about in some good way. I was dying to be emotionally caressed on the head like a poodle desperate for the attention of his master. And certainly I had made that other person into my mas...
Read more

Happiness is Something We Cultivate and Share

Who makes you happy? In reality, no one can make you happy. People in your life can enhance your happiness through sharing your interests. Or they can add to your frustrations by pushing your buttons. But no one can be responsible for your happiness or your misery—aside from you. One of the biggest problems for codependents is that we too often enter relationships looking for everlasting happiness. We expect that the person we choose to attach our dreams to should be responsible for making us happy. In our minds, we fantasize that he/she will be focused solely on us, will spend every waking hour with us and will do everything in his/her power to insure that we are as happy as we can possibly be. In other words, we assume this person will meet all of our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual needs in the same way that we plan to meet all of his/her needs. In our little dream world we will smother each other with attention and we will both drip with the honey of happiness. R...
Read more

Where There Is Kindness, There Is Goodness

Image
Author’s Note: The next few meditations will be from a retreat I directed recently called The Good News According to Disney . If you aren’t familiar with the films that are referenced, I’d suggest to take time to see them and to look for the deeper meaning within them. Many people today still live by the biblical adage “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” They actually believe that they will be at peace if they achieve revenge or restitution for any mishap that has befallen them at the hands of another. They believe they will reclaim their personal power once they have achieved their revenge, but this is impossible. Disney’s Cinderella (2015) reveals the true secret to owning one’s personal power and to retaining it no matter what we experience in life: “Have courage and be kind.” On the surface this motto looks a bit simple and wimpy. But in reality, it holds great power. That power comes from the heart of a person, or in this case Ella, who sees the world not a...
Read more

Become the Person You Want to Spend Your Life With Everyday

Image
I really don’t have to say much about the above quote. It says it all and it’s so true. We are too often taught faulty ways of thinking as children. So many of us get the wrong message at very young ages: Love is about finding the right person to love you. Looking back I realize I wasted many years trying to find that “right” person— the one who could love me into loving myself— instead of trying to BE that “right” person myself. It never occurred to me that I needed to love myself, nurture myself and accept myself enough to become the right person— the person I really needed most in my life. After all, what is my life without me? Now I know that I’m what’s been missing from my own life for years. My life is empty without me and without my spiritual Higher Power. This is true for all of us.  Once We find ourselves, become the “right” person God intended us to be, and become the person we want to spend the rest of our lives with, then we attract others into our lives who ca...
Read more