The Story of Indra's Net
Far away in the heavenly abode of the Great God Indra, the protector and nurturer of life, there is a wonderful net which stretches out indefinitely in all directions, in accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities. At the net’s every node, is hung a single glittering jewel and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, which sparkle in the magnificence of its totality. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite. As each gem reflects every other one and everything else in the universe, so are you affected by every other system in the universe.
From this 3rd century Buddhist story, we are given an image to
understand our universe and all life as interconnected.
In our own scripture from John’s gospel, Jesus says, “I am in God and you are in me and I am in you.” Again, an ancient text tries to describe the way we are all interconnected.
If we truly embrace this sense of being interconnected how will that shape how we live? If we begin to believe that we are interconnected with God and Jesus, how will we speak to the next person we meet? As we look into the eyes of another person we will see the eyes of God looking back and our own eyes seeking connection.
Let’s explore this sense of connectedness on Sunday as we reflect on
John 14:15-21
. Also, later on Sunday, we can take time to find God’s quiet center in our Taizé Community Vespers at 4 pm.
Shalom,
Abigail
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