vitalwholeness

This year has been “tracing your lineage through DNA year”. I know we gifted some family members with the simple self-test kits that would reveal their world ancestry. People are usually surprised with the results, but not always.

Many people know some of their ancestry by simply tracing names up the family tree. That little exercise generally takes them to continents and countries of origin. But what often dumbfounds people are the “minority reports” – the unexpected results from lesser known connections. They didn’t know about those American Indian, French, Siberian, Jewish or Greek aspects.

Behind all those distinctions is even greater connection. In his book The Seven Daughters of Eve (Norton, 2001) Bryan Sykes introduces us to the fascinating world of human mitochondrial genetics. In short, modern humans can be backtracked via historic world-wide migrations through DNA. The end of the journey takes us to seven pre-historic progenitor women who stand at the roots of the tree. We are much, much more connected than we suppose, especially as we move behind modern tribal affiliations. Our genetic code is wildly more similar than dissimilar. And that is also the case as we compare our DNA profile with that of other species.

As I move from genetics to theology, from science across the aisle to faith, it is easy for me to make the leap to a common ancestry on the global level. We are creatures of the same creator. We all belong to the same manifestation of the same divine mind, however diverse is that manifestation. And, yes, we are all connected to and a part of the same infinite cosmos.

We need to keep talking about this. It is the antidote to the spirit of division, fear, greed and hatred in our time. We are truly one though we don’t always know it or act it. Which is why we need to keep saying it – in a thousand different ways: We are one.

I believe I will make this my New Year’s resolution. Just sharing the affirmation is deliciously subversive. By simply naming the truth the endless stream of lies are revealed for what they are.

Who am I? I am part of the human race, one part of the cosmic family in this corner of the universe. And where did we come from? Well, from the mind of God, of course.