THE DIS-EASE OF DISCONNECTION

Richard Rohr – Franciscan priest, spiritual director, prolific writer – in his wonderful and readable book on the Trinity, The Divine Dance, explains, as best that can be done on the subject, the connection between the three persons of the Trinity. That said, that also does not mean that after reading the book I have a clear understanding of the subject, only a clearer one than I had before I read the book. Such is the Trinity!

One of his main points is that not only is there a connection between the persons of the Trinity, there is also a like connection between the Trinity and each one of us. Given the truth of that reality, and I do believe it is true, the follow-up to that truth is that there should likewise be a connection between each and every one of us, between all of humanity. There should be.

But there is not. To quote Rohr: “The greatest dis-ease facing humanity right now is our profound and painful sense of disconnection.” If we are not uneasy about this disconnection, we are living in an unreal world. The disconnection is both small and great. Go out to eat. Look around. What do we see? Once the waitperson takes the order, everyone at the table pulls out a cell phone. The disconnection begins.

One might argue that these marvelous devices keep us connected. Yes, but only to a degree but not really. The art of real conversation is being lost and so has the connection between people. Arlena and I have lived in our neighborhood for over eight years. We walk almost every day. Because we are free, we walk whenever the spirit moves. The other day we were walking when the high school bus stopped and left off the riders. We saw a young man get off the bus whom we had never seen before. He has lived down the block from us all the while we have lived on the block.

As a nation we are uneasy because we have become disconnected one from another. We have lost the art of conversation and have crawled into our little shells and into our own little world. We cannot see anything but what we see because we refuse to even try to see from another perspective. The only way to see as another sees is to have a conversation with that person. That takes being connected.

Again, as Rohr explains, we are already connected through the Trinity. But making that connection work in this life in this world means being open to the other, listening with open ears and heart and mind, being willing to change our thoughts and actions if necessary. That, of course, is not easy because it may mean that we were wrong.

We cannot change this dis-ease with the present disconnection all by ourselves. What we can do is make the effort to become more connected in our own lives. It will not always be easy because we may learn something about ourselves that we would rather not; but if and when we do, we will be better for it and certainly less at ease.