#interrelatedness

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. … Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”

“The experience of really listening to another human being is the source of our willingness to love them. Someone just gave me a t-shirt that says, "You can't hate someone whose story you know." That works at every level.”

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“In fact, a lot of people do know how to be together, but it's a skill that hasn't been considered important or given any status in our society. It's actually been dismissed as insignificant and soft and fuzzy. So courage is what we need, and the source of that courage is recognizing that the questions, doubts and desires that move in me move in everyone else as well.”

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“Many of us within large organizations are awakening to the awareness that life is uncertain and that we do make it up as we go along. But these aren't the usual management principles (laughs). There are very powerful forces that have no interest in this kind of awakening. I believe that's part of the gift of being alive right now. We have a wonderful opportunity to transform our relationships and our awareness of life. It's about creating a whole new world view, and I would say, even moving beyond that to emptiness. But we have to realize that we're not going to gain sanction from our present institutions. That's why courage is even more required. We're actually being quite revolutionary here. The world is going to continue to tell people who feel this awakening that they're crazy, so we might as well realize that what we are seeking is quite revolutionary in these times. It is part of a great swelling up on the planet of a desire for transformation. I don't know if I want to say it's big work, but it feels fundamental, in the good sense of returning to the foundations that truly support us.“

And other very timely points from Margaret Wheatley from more than 20 years ago.

https://www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/uncertainty.html

For future reading:

Different aspects of development are interrelated and essential in constituting to who a person really is. Even in aging, it is good to establish the relevance of such changes in order to make more conscious effort in improving his/her weaknesses and achieving his/her desired goals. With this, it is known that a problem or difficulty in one aspect may lead to delays in the overall development of the individual. This is manifested in the way a person perceives him/herself and the corresponding manner he/she interacts with their neighbors. The lack of knowledge to cope with hormonal changes may cause an adult to have more misunderstandings and problems with the people around him/her. He/she may also either gain wisdom or lose interest in being an active member of society due to the changes that comes with age. Indeed, aging can pose positive and negative effects to a person’s life; positive as gaining maturity, wisdom, self-confidence, depth of experiences, sense of purpose and nourishment of their loved ones meanwhile, the negative may lead to stagnation as stated in Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Stagnation relates to the frustration and discontentment on an adult’s life which may limit one from participating in activities of daily living. To illustrate, physical limitations in the body may cause the adult to have less intent to move and do tasks similar to when they were younger. This tends to affect their cognitive, psychological and socioemotional state hence also, decreasing their way of living. Furthermore, quality of life begins to gain importance during middle adulthood. In this stage, greater pursuit on what is truly important and essential in life than career are noted. Attachment to formed relationships and the desire to improve one's self all direct to the attainment of an optimal way of living. Upholding one's duties and roles in society meaningfully serve as the means in gaining a sense of purpose. During middle adulthood, senescence or age-related changes become very visible. The increase in weight, specifically in body fat, is caused by the lack of physical activity among middle adults. Bones become weaker hence, making the individual (usually women) more prone to osteoporosis. Menopause starts at around 47-48 years old and this comes with symptoms such as hot flushes, dizziness, headaches, mood swings and joint pain. Having hypertension as well as other chronic diseases is indeed expected at this stage of one’s life. More diseases become prevalent because of lifestyle choices or simply, the aging process. If one does not put effort to exercise regularly, then it is expected that the body would weaken significantly. To add, any change in one’s physical appearance and motor performance can be related to their hormones. With this, it is very possible to experience a decrease in strength, coordination, flexibility and balance at this certain age.

Moreover, the ‘responsible stage’ from Schaie’s Stages of Development explains the shift of priorities in middle adulthood to that of protecting and nourishing relationships with one’s loved ones (family, partner and friends). On the other hand, inclusion and active participation in a chosen community with similar advocacies are expected during this period, according to the concept of the ‘executive stage’. To expound, as one gained a sense of purpose and ‘a reason for being’ or ikigai in Japanese, a mindset to understand broader perspectives is acquired as well. In addition, experiences serve as the greatest and most effective teacher for middle adults. This is justified by the fact that crystallized intelligence improves or remains the same for people in this age. This kind of intelligence, according to Feldman, R. (2011), refers to the “learning acquired through experience and applied in situations involving problem solving”. Previous experiences and encounters have a significant role in their current perceptions, views, preferences and attitudes. Adults are also able to deeply understand complex and abstract ideas and in order to achieve this, appropriate balance among the components of the triarchic theory of intelligence is necessary. This includes the componential, experiential and contextual intelligence. The process of discerning which intelligence to prevail in a specific circumstance is possible and efficient at this period of human development. Nevertheless, memory and spatial orientation tends to decline. This is proved by the fact that middle adults are more prone to injuries and to forgetting things or details than those younger than them.

Furthermore, the responses of my mother are very aligned to the developmental tasks of adulthood stated in the given module. Some of these include strengthening the relationships with her loved ones, maintaining long-lasting friendships, adjusting to aging, sharing skills or attitudes to the younger generation and advocating for social responsibility/change within the society. Middle adults are known to be in the generativity vs. stagnation stage of Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Generativity tackles the desire to contribute to the lives of their loved ones such that to give the necessary help and support they might need. On contrary, stagnation is common since this relates to the loss of self-confidence and desire to participate in society due to their perceived limitations. This may primarily be affected by concrete experiences of ageism or “discrimination towards the person’s age”. Another, middle adults experience stress because of their health conditions and need to be financially stable. This is essential to them in order to continue their usual lives and do far more activities with their family. It can somehow be in preparation of the future (shows the acceptance of aging and death) wherein they would need to leave enough resources for their children when they die. In relation to this, the concept of ‘sandwich generation’ is evident since it expresses the mindset that a middle adult has “responsibilities to their children and aging parents”. They, then, do whatever they can to fulfill and balance their responsibilities. According to Gould’s Transformation in Adult Development, this shows that they are maximizing the time available for him/her to achieve all goals and develop self-acceptance because of their awareness of the time limitations. Lastly, people in middle adulthood are known to be part of Generation X and they are described as independent, critical-thinkers, family-oriented, loyal and seekers of life balance. The said characteristics are accurate and aligned to the response of my mother. Overall, these are only few of the theories and concepts which explain the changes in various aspects of development.

Different aspects of development are interrelated and essential in constituting to who a person really is. Even in aging, it is good to establish the relevance of such changes in order to make more conscious effort in improving his/her weaknesses and achieving his/her desired goals. With this, it is known that a problem or difficulty in one aspect may lead to delays in the overall development of the individual. This is manifested in the way a person perceives him/herself and the corresponding manner he/she interacts with their neighbors. The lack of knowledge to cope with hormonal changes may cause an adult to have more misunderstandings and problems with the people around him/her. He/she may also either gain wisdom or lose interest in being an active member of society due to the changes that comes with age. Indeed, aging can pose positive and negative effects to a person’s life; positive as gaining maturity, wisdom, self-confidence, depth of experiences, sense of purpose and nourishment of their loved ones meanwhile, the negative may lead to stagnation as stated in Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Stagnation relates to the frustration and discontentment on an adult’s life which may limit one from participating in activities of daily living. To illustrate, physical limitations in the body may cause the adult to have less intent to move and do tasks similar to when they were younger. This tends to affect their cognitive, psychological and socioemotional state hence also, decreasing their way of living.

The power of anthropology and the social sciences is found, at least for me, in the narratives we put forward about the social conditions of people living in the world. In the social sciences, the books with legs are those that create a connection between writers and a diverse audience of readers. Such a connection is established not through a jargon-laden esoteric language, but through narratives that evoke themes that constitute the human condition.

Because we are radically interrelated, what we think and do impacts others—all others (both human and nonhuman others), no matter how different or distant they might be. This concept of interrelatedness is a key tenet of many Indigenous worldviews—ranging from the Dakota belief expressed in the phrase “all my relatives” (mitakuye owasin), which reminds us that we are related to all existence, to the Buddhist teaching of co-dependent arising, to Thích Nht Hnh’s theory and practice of inter-being. Indeed, interdependence is even partially grasped by some nineteenth-century U.S. transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. However, I first saw this belief in our interrelatedness embodied and lived out within the pages of This Bridge Called My Back: in Rosario Morales’s assertion that “we are all in the same boat”; in Luisah Teish’s belief that “my destiny is infinitely tied with that of everybody else”; and in Anzaldúa’s bold claim that “[w]e have come to realize that we are not alone in our struggles nor separate nor autonomous but that we—white black straight queer female male—are connected and interdependent.

STEAMPUNK