Heroes Not Zombies

There are three elements, or relations, which lie at the heart of both our sense of belonging and our experience of wellbeing.

They are our relationship to others, our relationship to the living world and our relationship to the Divine.

Others. We are intensely social creatures. Our babies are born unable to survive alone and the early relationships they form determine the number of connections made by the neurones in the brain, the patterns of those connections, our ability to form healthy relationships in the future and even our susceptibility to a number of illnesses throughout our lives. We thrive when we establish mutually beneficial relationships with others. We realise our potentials when we love, and are loved. Loneliness, alienation and trauma are major factors involved in illness and early death.

The living world. When we treat other creatures and organisms as resources or things we impoverish our lived environment. When we pollute the seas, the rivers and the air we impair our ability to live long healthy lives. Climate change is one manifestation of this destructive attitude to the world. We need to reset our perspective and see the living world as crucial to our own wellbeing. Wonder and respect will support us better than exploitation, consumption and the production of waste.

The Divine. However you think of the divine, let’s consider our relationship to the “whole” and to whatever is more than, and greater than us. The Enlightenment thinkers were wrong in declaring we could understand everything. We can’t. And we never will. Knowing that allows us to become more humble. Beauty, Truth and Goodness all reveal the divine to us. We need a sense of purpose in our lives. We can gain that by connecting to what is greater than us. We can gain it through soulful experiences – of music, of food, of places and people – we feel it in our hearts. We feel it when we are touched in our soul.