We continue to speak as though we “came into this world.” But we did not come “into” this world; we have come “out” of it—as leaves come out of a tree, we have come out of the universe. As leaves are organically parts of the tree, we are organically part of the universe.
Thomas King S.J., Theology professor, Georgetown University
When a child is born it appears he came into this world, as if the soul resided in another world or dimension—a common belief among traditional faith communities. Speaking just physically, our bodies don’t come into the world so much as they emerge from previous organic substances that, as Fr. King noted, can be traced back to the stars.
In concert with this perspective, just as the spirit of a tree gives rise to and inhabits its leaves, the spirit of the universe gives rise to and indwells its most complex expression—human beings. And everything else. In part, it reveals to us further understanding of the phrase, “We are one.”
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