It is sometimes said, in arguing in favour of human unity, that we are all connected to one another at some level. To some, it seems to indicate a supra-conscious or unconscious connection, as in Jung’s Collective Unconscious or in a Collective Supraconscious attainable by group meditation, as in a Quaker meeting.

To my way of thinking, we are not so much connected to each other (though we may be), as we are aware of sharing a common nature or essence. It is not only that of God in each of us, but also a common evolutionary origin, a common (though differentiated) structure of body, brain, and mind, a common way (more or less) of functioning in action, of processing information, oflearning and acquiring knowledge, of feeling love and hate, pain and pleasure, joy and alienation, fear and anger, and a common way of interacting with others and building social relationships. We see the world in similar ways: the colours red and green, the sounds of wind and waves on the beach, the smell of violets and roses, the touch of the grass on bare feet, and above all, the loving touch of each other’s bodies. We KNOW what it is like to be another Thou. A person similar in all essentials to ourselves. This, in turn, is the basis of all ethics: since we don’t want ourselves to be hurt, we have no right to hurt others, who share our common essence.

Human links are not bonds of contiguity and confluence, primarily, but bonds of similarity and commonality. (Imitative magic, not contagious magic.) This is felt intuitively, as in the very different reaction to mannequins (or statues) than to living persons, to the recorded message and to spoken words.

It is a feeling of Presence.