Recently, I was at the license bureau renewing my driver’s permit. The waiting room was jammed. The ticket machine spat out a slip indicating I was 85th in the queue. The Now Serving screen displayed the number 21; time to practice my Buddha nature.
As I settled into an uncomfortable plastic chair, I gazed around the room. Everyone had their head bowed. They were not praying!
What did people do before smartphones?
I decided to leave my phone in my jacket and just watch. Not one head bobbed up. A few people missed their number being called. The U.S. Surgeon General calls loneliness an epidemic. I believe it! Were these folks among those reporting feeling “isolated (54%), left out (50%), or lacking companionship (50%) in a 2025 American Psychological Association survey?
Modern life provides the motivation and means for people to collapse inwardly. We’ve become experts at two things: Self and Stuff. The ‘We’ seems to have gone missing.
Why is that?
Whatever the full explanation is, phones are accessories to the crime! A genuine encounter requires something phones can’t provide — presence and vulnerability. Presence brings one’s complete attention to an encounter, while vulnerability heightens receptivity. When present and vulnerable, we awaken to the energy (Spirit) in a relationship.
Spiritual energy connects the unseen “you” with the unseen “me.” Can I prove that? No! Because it’s felt rather than known. Some people don’t believe in Spirit. That’s probably because they are thinking of Spirit as a noun. Spirit, as an action, doesn’t require belief. I can feel Spirit, just as I can feel love.
The universe pulls everything together, from atoms to molecules to organisms, all the way out to planets, stars, and galaxies. Why should “we” be exempt from this energy? The same force that draws galaxies together draws people together. Remember what happened during the pandemic-imposed isolation? We were miserable!
We bring Spirit into each other’s lives. It’s available whenever we are present and receptive (vulnerable) to its energy. Spirit brings together winning teams and dear friends. Spirit is felt when we look into each other’s eyes. Spirit draws us into life; isn’t that what counts?
The solution to the loneliness epidemic lies beyond Self and stuff.
It requires looking up!
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*My new book, The Secret Within, provides a practical guide to living beyond Self and stuff. Check it out on Amazon.
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