Alone and Together

For the past few years, my most searing question has been one of connection - what does it mean to be both an individual and part of something greater? There are days I ache with this question and all its unknowns and contradictions. There are days when this question sustains me, an infinite well of inspiration.

Of course I find my answers through living the question. Today I find them in quiet moments alone spent reading, feeling lonely yet full to bursting with the gift of others, all at the same time. I'm reading My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok, about a boy who is both an Hasidic Jew and a brilliant artist - a nearly unbearable contradiction. In my quiet moments with this book I am living his need to be who he is, and these moments caress all the other moments of my life, awakening them further.

This concept of artistic originality is truly compelling to me - what does it meant to bring the raw truth of who we are, in many ways rejecting what the world would impel us to be? How can it be that this very act of rejection is the most sure way to embrace and love the world we are in?

Some days I feel overwhelmed by these questions. That is when I write, seeking the connections.