What is it that warms up when I see a loved one?
How can I become friends with someone that my physical body never met?
Covid brought many considerations for all the human beings living on this planet at this time. People had creative ideas in order to continue to interact with friends and family even when not allowed to be together.
Although we could not share space, we were given the chance to share time. Meetings, classes, study groups, and so many events were transferred to zoom and people from different places were able to connect. That’s how I met Rashmi and Sandhya.
“Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes”, said Thoreau. And I would add: “Nothing makes the earth seem so small as to have friends at a distance: they make the time zones!”
If our paths crossed on the street, I don’t know if I would recognise Rashmi or Sandhya!
I don’t know how they walk or even how tall they are. I don’t know anything about the look of their eyes or the touch of their hands, or any other characteristic we take for granted when we are physically with loved ones, like their smell for example.
And yet I feel something deep when I think of them. I have the image of their faces and their names. And a huge gift: everything we shared in conversations. ♥
I like to think that the pandemic brought a tangible way to experience that which remains when we die - the bond between two people, the gathering of “I”s.
My connection with Rashmi and Sandhya is as real as with people I see every day at work. It’s actually stronger. It’s similar to my relationship with a longtime friend when we talk over the phone, or via whatsApp.
What’s the meaning of “being together” after all? I believe that if we open ourselves to practice, to “bring down” our spiritual beliefs, perhaps our relationships can give a new meaning to “being together”. Yes, we inhabit a physical body and we may fully embody it! Be physically present to the ones who are in front of you; and yet know and feel that you are equally present when you are not sharing physical space!
Spirit is never without matter; matter is never without spirit!
Last week I had a thought. What if I died and was trying to contact a loved one through my heart, sending love, but they had closed their door? What if they were not open to me when I tried to reach them? I would have no phone to text....
It made me think that I need to talk to my family and friends and ask them to always believe in my love for them. It made me think of so many people who have crossed the threshold during this time. And to imagine them trying to reach out to those who have a hard time believing in that which cannot be seen or touched.
After all, they have just taken the journey before us, and in the words of Steiner, “have only assumed another form. Having died, they stand before our feelings like those who, through life circumstances, have travelled to distant lands, to which we can follow them only later. We have therefore nothing to bear but a time of separation. Spiritual science must help us learn to feel and experience this in the most living way we can.”
May we find ways to bridge the two realms with love and light.
Jolie Hanna Luba
Palm Sunday, 2021
