“Jesus sought to create wholes where there were divisions—whole people, whole communities, wholesome living—for the glory of God. When we sin, we “miss the mark” or we live out of focus, promoting “dis-ease” in the cosmos; relationships are broken, violence ensues, and we become disconnected from one another and from the earth. The health we seek requires concrete relations of compassion, peace and forgiveness; it requires attentiveness to people, earth, sun, moon and stars, seeing within each created being the divine goodness, beauty, and wisdom. A healthy cosmos requires healthy people who live in openness, compassionate love, and receptivity to others, accepting others as part of self because we are one in the depth of God’s love”. -- Ilia Delio, The Emergent Christ pp 65
Ways I live disconnected, out of focus are…when I act out of a desire to please others rather than seeking to bring about the greater peace. The peaceful solution is sometimes elusive. What seems to be the peaceful solution may really be just doing what someone I love indicates will be most pleasing, caving in to what I want in the moment, or even blindly obeying an authority figure who may themselves be "off the mark." The ramifications of those actions are sometimes far-reaching and hard for me to untangle. At those times I feel disconnected because I don't know what will help the situation even after recognizing what went wrong. These are situations I take to God in prayer and trust knowing that God is never disconnected and I am connected to God.
Being unfocused is not always a negative. I learned this as a technique when I was a sailboat skipper. In order to see the marker way out on the horizon, you have to let your eyes go a bit unfocused. Focusing too hard on the horizon creates a blind spot and the marker will always elude you even if you can see brief flashes of it. A relaxed gaze reveals the marker clearly and you can find the right direction from it. So, there is a value in being unfocused in order to find the way.
Being disconnected has a similar value. For me there is more of a problem in being overly connected than being disconnected. I find I need to purposely "disconnect" to sort out my emotions and reflect on deeper meanings.
Ways I can become more healthy are by moderating my desire for connection with my need for a healthy degree of disconnection. I also need to use good judgement in choosing how and what to be connected with. I am most healthy when I focus in moderation. Not focusing at all leaves me vulnerable to stagnation and focusing too hard makes me blind to the truth right before me...sometimes exactly where I am looking, but am unable to see it.
On a cosmic level I know that I am always connected to all the rest of creation. I know this in an intuitive way and do not try to control or employ my own conscious awareness of that reality in order to direct the actions of others. I let that awareness of being deeply connected and loved seep in and heal me so that I can be a healing presence for others.
