Relevance Part 2
February 5, 2025
Relevance Part 2
Are you perhaps interested in rock collecting, jewelry, Pomeranians, Brazilian postage stamps, heavy metal music, the BBC news, action figures, or satellites that monitor cloud movements? If not, chances are that these topics are irrelevant to you. But some of them may very well be interesting and, therefore, relevant. It just depends on the things that make up our personal worlds.
There are so many areas of human interest that it can be overwhelming to hone those most relevant to us. However, it is important to know what our criteria are for something to be relevant. Many things seem irrelevant, but they have a lot of relevance for us: we have not yet connected the dots. For example, I would not think that wild animals are very relevant to my life, yet I find myself intrigued by Jack Hanna’s TV show “Into the Wild.” The animals are fascinating, so I always make time for this show, which lets us see wild animals in their native habitats. Jack and his wife Suzi are animal experts and advocates, and this show takes us into the wild with awe, reverence, humor, and empathy.
I am curious about all life and how it survives. Looking at “Into the Wild,” I see the comparisons between my survival mechanisms and those of animals. What I find is a type of order underlying the world — an order I cannot comprehend — the killing and suffering of animals killed by other animals, all to keep the cycle of life and the food chain going. This mix of love and violence is a point of great curiosity. Humans seem to be more like animals than we are sometimes aware.
For example, seeing a family of elephants in the mourning process is a tear-jerker. To see a zebra run for its life in terror only to be overtaken by a lion and eaten on the spot can be disturbing. Yet this is the way the wild operates. Maybe I see these shows about wild animals to help me comprehend and resolve the Divine rationale for the law of the jungle. The animal shows are most relevant to my interest in suffering and how it can be healed.
So, the TV shows about wild animals feed and inform my long-standing question about the phenomenon of love and violence existing side by side, and within us all, to some extent. The shows portray this phenomenon in wild animals and highlights for me that these same things exist side by side in myself and others. I am searching for how we are like and unlike the animals.
Spiritual practice: Is there a topic you are interested in but do not know why? Try connecting the dots. See how your interest may have to do with your life in terms of a quest, concern, question, or matter of the Body, Mind, or Heart Center.
Self-inquiry: Why do we search for why something is relevant to us if the answer may not be flattering to our egos?
Dear God,
For understanding, I pray so very deeply. Until then, I pray for trust. Amen
