Connection

Cocooning and Connecting
November 24, 2019 at 10:30 amRev. Larry Peers
Each of us negotiates our own needs for “cocooning” and “connecting.” Spiritual traditions have encouraged the practices of solitude and of connection with one another. Cocooning, according to futurist Faith Popcorn is our desire to shelter ourselves from the harsh realities of the world. It can take extreme and not-so-extreme forms. Our home can become the center of our self-contained and controlled reality as well as a place of comfort. Sociologists have named the growing phenomenon toward self-sufficiency and shying away from joining or belonging as “bowling alone.” Connecting may also be a deep longing in us. John O’Donohue wrote that “To be human is to belong. Belonging is a circle that embraces everything; if we reject it, we damage our nature.” To develop personally and spiritually we need to discover our own relationship to both solitude and belonging.

Thomas Paine UU Fellowship