The Boat We Are In

I hope we sometime soon reach an understanding that we are in the same boat. By "we" I mean everything that exists. Too often we behave as though "we" (pick your tribe or species) believe we're each in our own boats, or even as if we are standing safely on a shore watching all the other groups navigating treacherous seas. 

This view makes it too easy to care mostly or exclusively about the fate of "our" important but tiny piece of the whole, forgetting about the interconnectedness of all that exists. Even the notion of one big boat is flawed, as clearly is the case in our mythology about Noah's ark. It is charming to envision pairs of giraffes and polar bears making their way on board, but what about the rest of us watching from a distance while dark clouds gather? 

Maybe we can stick with the boat concept if it pushes us to embrace the fact that we all have a part to play to avoid sinking. I recently watched In the Heart of the Sea, a film based on the book of the same title (at least somewhat about another more famous book, Moby Dick). Whalers regularly spent years at sea in a constant, dangerous dynamic where each part relied on the performance of every other part to survive. 

Whatever image we embrace, my prayer is that more of us choose to live more fully as if we believe that everything that exists shares an origin as well as a destiny. And we share a status as beloved. We are not merely held by God, even though it is comforting to trust that we rest in keel-shaped, cupping hands. God loves us such that God is in us, yes, just as we are in those hands of mercy. And not just within and through us, but permeating all that exists to the extent that there is no "other." No other boat, fleet, tribe, race, political party, sexual orientation, species, planet, just a beloved whole sharing an enchanted journey.