From all appearances there seem to be islands on this planet of ours. Yet, even islands are grounded to the same bedrock as the continents. What is more, our earth, according to Albert Einstein is attached to the rest of the universe. He demonstrated through general relativity that mass, no matter how small or large, warps space-time. The entire universe feels the presence of even the smallest mass.
From the realms of quantum mechanics, to general relativity, to theology, it seems that all things are connected. Reggie McNeal says, “The science of quantum physics also contributes to this new way of thinking. The quantum universe is not a universe of things but a universe of relationships . . . The quantum vision of the universe is more interested in the whole, in how things interrelate. Its fundamental unit is not even single, but plural.”[1]Diarmuid O’Murchu concurs, “In the quantum worldview, nothing makes sense in isolation; basically, there are no boundaries, and influences can emerge from several sources, many probably unknown to the human mind at this stage of our species evolution.”[2] There are no islands.
John Donne (1572-1631) once wrote,
“All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated . . . As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, and who am brought so near the door by this sickness . . . No man is an island, entire of itself . . . any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”[3]
This interdependency of all things is clearly demonstrated in nature. None of us can do anything that is not felt by our entire existence. Furthermore, none of us can become anything without the whole. I find tremendous irony in listening to those who claim to be self-made individuals, whether entrepreneurs or isolationists. Show me a millionaire whose wealth did not come from someone else and/or ultimately the earth. Ironically, there would be no millionaires if it were not for the non-millionaires. Even a politician who claims to have climbed to the top on their own ignores those whom they climbed over to get there. No, we are all a part of the whole. We are connected.
Anthropologists have observed that various cultures around the world are keenly aware of the connectedness between all things. Diarmuid O’Murchu reports in Quantum Theology, ”In prehistoric societies, and in many parts of today’s world (especially Africa, Latin America, and Asia), the individual’s value and worth are esteemed relative to the person’s role within, and contribution to, the common good, vividly expressed in the Bantu proverb ubuntu umuntu ngabantu, meaning: ‘I am because we are.’”[4]Parker J. Palmer says in his book Let Your Life Speak, “Inner work can be helped along in community. Indeed, doing inner work together is a vital counterpoint to doing it alone. Left to our own devices, we may delude ourselves in ways that others can help us correct.”[5]Furthermore, Desmond Tutu exclaims in No Future without Forgiveness, “We are individually only what we are by our connectedness to the whole of humanity. This is ubuntu.”[6]
So what does all this have to do with refugees? You do the math . . .
Ubuntu!
-Sam Augsburger
[1]Reggie McNeal, The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003), 57.
[2]O’Murchu, Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics, 32.
[3]John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions(1624), Meditation 17.
[4]O’Murchu, Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics, 91.
[5]Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 92.
[6]Desmond Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness(New York: Doubleday, 1997), 31.
