Belonging

I find it amazing how we are all very individual and unique, yet at the same time we’re all the same. All of humanity searches for answers to the bigger questions of life. Questions with answers that oftentimes seem beyond our reach.

We also have the same needs and inner longings. One of them being the need to belong. Not just the need to belong to a community, or to be a part of something; but a need to belong to someone/thing. We ask, “Who am I?” and rarely, “Whose am I?”

I love this quote by St. Augustine:

• “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

A fellow blogger friend, ‘Rusty Foerger‘ posted something recently that made me think about this universal ‘sameness’. In his post he writes about a well-known Urdu poet, ‘Bulleh Shah‘, from the 16/1700s, and includes a music video by a popular Indian musician (Rabbi Shergill) that was based on his poetry.

Please take a moment to read the post, “I know not who I am”, from “Curriculum of the Spiritual Life”, and watch the following music video.

The Vine

The Vine

Did you know that brown is a colour that is associated with belonging. I’ve written about this before – the need to belong.  A need for community. A need for relationship. We were never meant to be alone, but we were made for relationship. I am very content to have relationship with the one who feeds my soul, and cares for me on a holistic level.

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” 
― C.S. Lewis

How do you nurture this human need for belonging?

Heart String – Tanaga

Tanaga poem on mixed media

The need to belong is something that is ingrained in each and every one of us. There’s no escaping it. It’s part of our DNA.

Did you know that there is a ‘science of relationships’? Scientific studies have been done in order to understand this need for belonging. The “belongingness hypothesis” states that people have a basic psychological need to feel closely connected to others, and that caring, affectionate bonds from close relationships are a major part of human behavior.

I believe that we have this deep need for connection because we were created in the image and likeness of a relational creator.

Why do you think we have this strong need for relationships?

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The Tanaga poetry form is a Philippino form. It consists of four lines, seven syllables each. The first two lines rhyme and the last two lines rhyme.

 

Star Song

Mixed Media

Just a simple piece to start out the week. I don’t feel like it’s quite finished yet, but this is what I’ve got at the moment.

A very happy Labor Day to all of my Canadian and American friends. As for us down south, it’s Brazil’s Independence Day. I’m off to enjoy a bowl of Acaí cream with my family.

Who’s your star? Who’s your song?