Dynamic Connectedness | July 6, 2025 | Rev. Dr. Kathryn Benton

In life, the issue is not control, but dynamic connectedness.

The opening words are from Erich Jantsch, Austrian system-theorist, philosopher, astrophysicist and educator. Written in 1980, the year he died, his book, The Self-Organizing Universe, describes what he calls, scientific and human implications of the emerging paradigm of evolution. Jantsch was describing the new science of quantum physics in terms of human systems. Margaret Wheatley, a teacher of mine from the University of Creation Spirituality, responded to these words like this:

I want to act from that knowledge. I want to trust in this universe so much that I give up playing God. I want to stop struggling to hold things together. I want to experience so much security that the concept of “allowing”- trusting that the appropriate forms will emerge – ceases to be scary. I want to surrender my fear of the universe and join with everyone I know in an organization that opens willingly to its environment, participating gracefully in the unfolding dance of order.

Wheatley’s words resonated with me after attending our annual membership meeting last week. The question arises, are we able to trust…the universe…the creator enough that we can give up playing God? Can we open willingly to our environment and participate gracefully in the unfolding dance of order? It is within this context, I think, that we are able to move forward as a community…drawing strength from our ability to work together to participate in the unfolding dance. This is the leading principle in another community of which I have been a part, Alcoholics Anonymous. Let go and let God was the refrain week after week when I was attending those meetings. This letting go of our fear of living life on life’s terms is not an easy path, but it is simple when we consider these basic truths spoken of by some of my teachers. Margaret Wheatley again…

In the quantum world, relationship is the key determiner of everything. Subatomic particles come into form and are observed only as they are in relationship to something else. They do not exist as independent ‘things’. There are no basic “building blocks”…These unseen connections between what were previously thought to be separate entities are the fundamental ingredients of all creation.

Wheatley says there are no basic building blocks but that the connections…the relationships are the fundamental ingredients of creation. She uses this thesis to examine the ways in which we relate to one another in a later book entitled, Turning to one another. In this book she states that we need to reclaim the art of conversation in order to combat the pain of the isolation we experience…an experience Desmond Tutu described as a radical brokenness in all of existence. This art of conversation is evident in this community…thanks to the interconnections…the dynamic connectedness of members, visitors and communal acts of service, such as Shashi Dalal’s care for our physical well-being, Susan Napoliello’s publishing of the newsletter, Courtney Brown’s meditations and help with the sound and video workings, Bryan Caston’s steadfastness, board members as well as all of the members and friends…each vital parts of this community.

Another teacher of mine from the University of Creation Spirituality was Rolf Österberg. He also spoke at the church. He wrote a book entitled, Corporate Renaissance, in which he describes a new way to envision business practices. He begins,

Power is the other face of fear. The hierarchical system is a power structure built upon fear and, by extension, upon suspicion and mistrust.

He goes on to describe an alternative way:

In the new thought – which tells us that every human being is not only unique, but also a part of every other human being – no such distinctions exist.

There is no competition among human beings.

There is no fear of not being successful, no fear of losing.

In the new thought, there is no need for power and no reason for hierarchical systems. The new thought and hierarchical systems are simply not compatible.

This was (and is) a radical view of how organizations can be viewed. To actually let go of competition is unheard of, especially in the eyes of our president and his supporters. In this view, cooperation is key…a strategy that has actually been part of every successful social justice movement in history. Based upon the assumption that we are a part of one another, we can recognize that we are part of that dynamic connectedness that Jantsch spoke of.

Another teacher, Howard Thurman devoted an entire chapter to this idea of interdependence in living structures in his book, The Search for Common Ground. Thurman was deeply connected to the natural world and recognized that we as human beings have much to learn about our lives through the study of living systems. He knew that we are a living, organic part of the Universe, not separate from it, but part of it…subject to the same laws. He knew that just as in nature there are functional groupings that are essential to the workings of the whole, in human society we also instinctively form groups that are essential to the functioning of the whole.

And this group formation is not an easy task for us today. We have forgotten how to be in community. But if we listen closely, even amid this chaos and confusion…this perceived fragmentation…there is still a small voice within us that longs for connection…for relationship...for community. We long to break down the barriers that separate us and work together toward common goals. We long to know one another.

Now this is not the first time a community has come together for common goals. It has been done throughout history when people have discovered their common ground and common goals. It has been accomplished when all else has failed, when people have become desperate…when they needed to get things done. But in order for this to happen, there has to be a community…that is, people must be organized into groups that function organically…groups of people that communicate well and trust each other…groups of people that hold each other accountable and take responsibility for the work they are doing. These types of communities seem to be dying all around us. This is especially true of spiritual communities…communities that profess to be about the work of the spirit of all creation. This is our work at Fellowship Church…the work of connection and of lingering with each other. This is what Howard Thurman called contact with fellowship. He knew that we needed one another in order to live and he knew that this need was woven into our very fabric…the fabric of life itself.  He said,

Every living thing, including man…

every living thing belongs to every other living thing.

I can never be what I ought to be until the last living manifestation

is what it ought to be…for better or for worse,

tied into the idiom of everything that lives.

If I forget this, I profane God’s creation.

If I remember it I come to myself in you

and you come to yourself in me.

We are, to be sure, tied into the idiom of everything that lives. What we do affects all creation. We need to follow this longing of our hearts…the longing that says we belong to each other…we are part of a dynamic connectedness.

And integrating this belief into our communities requires us to surrender our fear and allow God to be God, for that is what the Universe does when we let it…when we participate gracefully in the unfolding dance of order, we are able to move mountains. We must recognize this need of one another…we must take the time needed to linger with each other and we must truly listen to each other…we must learn to be fully human. We must finally let go of the belief that we are “separate entities” and join in the dance of order…the dance of creation.