“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people” -Thich Nhat Hanh
Recently I looked through some of our many photo albums. These pictures are among our most precious possessions. Some of these photos are of ancestors I barely remember or never met. They sang their song and danced their dance and ended their days before I was born. Most of them have solemn faces. I suppose that people thought that smiling was inappropriate when they were before a camera. You can see in their faces a quiet dignity or a stubborn streak or a gentle nature or a tired, worn-out spirit. For a moment they are frozen in time for me to gaze into their eyes and wonder about their souls. Sometimes I can almost see glimpses of myself in their faces, stances, and demeanor.
My mother told me before she succumbed to dementia that when I cross my legs, my foot dangles exactly like my father’s foot dangled so many years ago. I don’t remember that, but I suppose my mother had a strange sense of nostalgia when she witnessed my unconscious stance. I have often wondered how much of my personality, quirks, physical appearance, interests, dislikes, and nature can be explained by the genes I have inherited from generations long forgotten.
The truth is that we do not arrive on this planet tabula rosa. We each come into this universe with a unique mixture of traits and adaptations, inclinations and tendencies, and strengths and weaknesses of ancestors we shall never know. It is a part of the wonder and mystery of our being, a wonder and mystery that escapes our mobile and increasingly rootless society.
What I realize as I stare as these old photographs is that I am connected to others and to the universe in ways that I too easily forget. I am part of an intricate and marvelous web of being. I am descended not only from my ancestors who go back millions of years (Have you ever thought how fragile and precious your being is when you consider that if anything tragic had happened to ANY of these countless ancestors before they were able to reproduce, you would not even be here?). I am also descended from the Big Bang billions of years ago. We and the stars are made from the same substance. The Hebrew Scriptures remind us that humankind was made from the dust of the earth and is destined to return to that dust. Humankind (adam) is made from the earth (adamah). I believe in a simple, almost childlike way, the Bible is telling us that we are connected in our origins not only to our human ancestors but to every part of this universe.
So, within my hand I see not only my parents and their parents and all the generations before them. I also see the whole universe, the stuff of stars and galaxies in my fragile and precious body. I am part of something deeper and greater than I will ever understand—something that has made me in all of my uniqueness and wonder. And so are you. And so is every other person and creature within this universe. We are part of a marvelous web. And as we face the challenges and opportunities in the coming years, I have a more than casual suspicion that an acute awareness of this connection will serve our world well. More eyes are looking over our shoulders than we could ever guess. That is why Meister Eckhart wrote, “I have often said that God is creating the entire universe fully and totally in the present now. Everything God created six thousand years ago—and even previous to that—as God made the world, God creates now all at once.” In other words, it’s all with us in the here and now and it’s all in our hands. “How fearfully and wonderfully we are made!”
