I am going to share some thoughts on what we might call the interrelatedness of all things – the relational universe. To set the scene here is a short poem by the Japanese poet, Koboyashi Issa (1763-1827):
The distant mountains
are reflected in the eye
of the dragonfly
(Hamill 2000: 83)
Such a concise image – that evokes the interdependence that unites everything.
Given that everything is subject to change, all entities can only ever be provisional and contingent, subject to processes of restructuring, decay and dissolution – however fast or slow. Every entity will become something else and has been something else. Mutation and transformation are the norm, not the exception. In this sense we inhabit a changeful universe, ambiguous, paradoxical and uncertain. The self is not a hermetically sealed kernel or soul, absolute and unchanging, it is a dynamic interweaving of streams of perceptions, emotions, thoughts, memories and aspirations – a network of relationships with no fixed perimeter. Our boundaries are fluid, indeterminate and inextricably interwoven into the shifting boundaries of everything else in the universe. Our skin is a semi-permeable membrane through which moisture, light, tiny organisms and sub-atomic particles pass. Likewise, our minds are permeable indefinite structures flowing with experiences, of every imaginable kind. Our very being is fluid and many-stranded, and not contained within definite mental, physical, social or cultural boundaries.
The German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, conceives of our being as a field of care and concern – an open network of fluid relationships with others and with the world. Heidegger calls this field of being, Dasein – which can be translated from the German as ‘being-there’ or ‘being-here.’ And each person’s field ‘of care and concern’ is a social space, overlapping, merging and interacting with the fields of other beings. The self is the agent of care and concern, and the channel through which care flows in, out and through us. Dasein, ‘being-there’, is also ‘being-with’ or ‘being-together.’ We exist in a state of interdependence with everything that exists.
Buddhists describe this state of interbeing, interpenetration and interdependence as ‘dependent co-arising’ or ‘dependent origination’, awkward phrases that are translations of the Sanskrit term, pratītyasamutpāda – which combines the word, pratītya, meaning ‘meeting, relying, depending’, with the word, samutpa, meaning ‘arising’.
From the Buddhist perspective there are no separate entities, somehow independent of everything else that exists – all phenomena arise within a relational field, bound together by causal relationships extending through space and time. This is equally true for us human beings. None of us can be considered as separate, existing for, or of, ourselves. We are deeply porous beings, overlapping, merging and interweaving with our surroundings and with other beings, including our human co-habitants of planet earth. Just as our bodies are porous, our minds aren’t bounded by our bodies or by our conventional sense of self. Our being is both firmly located in this space we occupy, and a non-localised web of connections and interdependencies: with those for whom we care, and who care for us; with the other organisms who share our envelope of skin; and with all the streams of ideas, stories, beliefs and values that constitute our cultural commons.
The term, pratītyasamutpāda, dependent origination, also alludes to the currents of causality that are interwoven through the universe, and through us – the causal relationships that give rise to things as they are, to us as we are. One thing leads to another, one action or event gives rise to another, and another – causal effects that ripple out in every direction. If we consider a daffodil as an example: we notice most cultivated daffodils are bred from native narcissi growing in soil that provided them with nutrients; native narcissi evolved from earlier plant forms dependent on other fertile soils and on the light of the sun and on rains that fell as they grew; these plant forms evolved over millennia from other life forms going back to single-cell organisms; and prior to that to chemical interactions, and to the ‘big bang’ origin of the universe; and maybe to other ‘big bangs’ and other universes. This great web of interdependence gives rise to a daffodil – indeed the daffodil in a vase on my kitchen table could be said to be a consequence of all these other phenomena and conditions. And in its turn the daffodil will decay and its atoms will be recycled into other forms.
As Thich Nhat Hanh puts it: ‘This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This ceases to be, because that ceases to be.’
Causal relationships and dependent origination extend to all phenomena, a continually changing web of mutual influences and connections. Not only are past and future implicated in each other, but they are also contained in the present. This interdependence is an endless process. Nothing is ever fixed as it is, because everything is always subject to change, growth, decay, revision and transformation. And every action is an interaction in a universe of everchanging relationships – a relational universe.
References
Hamill, Sam. 2000. The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and other poets. Boston: Shambhala.
Thich Nhat Hanh. 1999. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching. Three Rivers Press. pp. 221-222.