Interwoven.
Independence is an illusion, practically and spiritually – everything depends on everything else, and that is not a burden but something beautiful.
I asked about buying a car. A practical question – but behind it sat an old reflex: whatever I choose, I don't want to owe anyone anything. I have poured absurd amounts of energy into that reflex over the years. Needing no one. Doing everything myself. Asking for help only when every other option was gone.
The letter skips the car entirely and answers the reflex. Independence, it says, is an illusion – on every level. Practically: someone grew your food, someone built the roads you drive on. And spiritually: everything is connected, and connection itself creates dependence – the exhaustion comes from denying that. In "Fear and Control" we saw that control is an illusion we grab for when fear takes over; this letter dismantles its sister. And "Not Alone" already named where the aloneness is manufactured: inside.
Read it the next time you catch yourself refusing help you actually need. The last lines are the whole point: we are not alone. We are connected.
Dear traveler,
Being dependent – that was always a thorn in your side. How much energy and work have you already put into being independent in your life? Needing no one. Doing everything yourself. As if you were the only person in the world.
Yes, that is exhausting. Yes, you are tired. Exhausted. Exhausted from keeping up this illusion of independence.
Yes, exactly – independence is an illusion. Both practically and spiritually.
Quite practically: Where does your food come from? Who builds the infrastructure you live in? Ah, you think living in nature would be independent? But aren't you just as dependent there? Even more so? Dependent on nature. On the plants and animals. On the weather. Do you see it?
And that brings us to the next level up: Everything in the universe interacts with everything else. Everything is connected to everything. And a connection to something creates, in itself, a dependence. So everything depends on everything else. Because everything is connected. Because one thing leads to the other. Because the other needs the one. Because everything builds on everything else.
Do you see it – we all depend on each other, and that is wonderfully beautiful. For we are not alone. We are connected. We are all one.
Thank you for being here.
If something in these letters stayed with you, take it along – think about it, write your own answer, or just let it sit.
And if not today, that's okay too. There's no rush.
Until next time,
– Jan