From The Daily Dialogue
From The Daily Dialogue
Broadcast of 7/12/98
Subject: [DailyDialogue #191] Interbeing
"If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain the trees cannot grow; and without trees we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. So I say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. 'Interbeing' is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix 'inter' with the verb 'to be,' we have a new verb, inter-be."
-- Thich Nhat Hahn
Following retirement from one of my careers, I reveled in my newly found freedom from the regular workweek. I got a large motorcycle and headed east toward Montana. Traveling solo, I came to the Rocky Mountains and stopped at Many Glacier lodge. With permission from the Park Service, I set out on foot into the backcountry for a week.
My realization of my reliance on others was the strongest memory of this whole experience. Traveling by motorcycle, I was dependent on highways, service stations, and food stores. In the backcountry, I was dependent on weather, clothing, food, equipment and the forbearance of the grizzlies that make this region their home. Autonomy is illusory; Inter-being is reality.
Experiment: Dialogue with your partner about your reliance on each other.
Affirmation: We joyfully inter-be.
The Daily Dialogue is published each day of 1998 by e-mail. Copyright 1998, Eddy Brame and Marty Crouch, All rights reserved.
