what holds the world together

I'm increasingly convinced that we are connected to each other by necessity. Not just individual psycho-emotional necessity, but metaphysical requirement. Meaning, the people in our lives exist because these connections are necessary, fundamental, and bound to the opportunity that is Now.

We would not exist as we do outside of these conditional relationships. And we are the culmination of endless relationships and choices that have preceded us, many by eons, each of us a unique collection of atoms and ideas bound to a particular, ever-moving point in space and time.

A friend once asked me what I believed the meaning of life to be. After a couple of half-reasoned replies, I concluded that the meaning of life for all beings might be summarized in a single word: relationship. Of course, for 'intelligent' beings, choice enters into the equation - our choices based on our individual perception of how we relate to our surroundings.

In a sense, these musings are really just a personalized expression of the long-held concept of dependent arising. But I wanted to express these thoughts, even if they are nothing new.

Repetition in this case is good, plus its always slightly different. Common ground for me, 'nixfan is also on an atomic/molecular/chemical relationships described. I actually FEEL molecular changes, and also think in terms of all organic beings, even a single grass plant, all transfer data constantly. That this species can actually "think" instead of automatically adapt/respond as do other species, though making us capable of rapid changes in behavior/natural adaptation (other species take thousands of generation before change can be measured, while we humans can change behaviors in a single generation), we often "goof" and have to change the set of instructions and dig in once more. Its all happening as it always has. While individuals can change themselves, and some of the environment, still at a matrix/matriarchal level, bacteria for example (who DO generate thousands of times rapidly---in matters of days sometimes, can "override" our single-handed man-made (often arrogant) ways faster than you can blink an eye, and literally do us in (as in the plague 14th century, and the 30,000,000 loss of lives in a flu epidemic during world war II. On the molecular level, powerful as we are for a while, we're still pretty puny in terms of influence when push comes to shove (natural disasters).....