Looking at what’s trending? You might just miss the main event.

We live in an amazing world. Consider these realities quoted in One River, Many Wells by Matthew Fox.

The Milky Way gives birth to several stars every year.

The earth is being whipped around the Sun by the power of the Sun.

The entire earth is being whipped around at 180 miles per second.

The human body carries out over 100,000 chemical reactions, without us having to think about it.

One thing is made up of all other things. One thing contains the whole cosmos…A piece of bread contains sunshine… Without a cloud, the wheat cannot grow. So when you eat the piece of bread, you eat the cloud, you eat the sunshine, you eat the minerals, time, space, everything.

Now if you read the newspaper, or watch the news on TV, or check out what’s trending on the web, you might just miss all that amongst the violence, the problems, the scandals, and yes, even the occasional bits of good news too.

I’m not saying that news isn’t important, or that we shouldn’t be aware of what is happening around us.  However, in our global interconnected world where bad news sells, it’s all too easy to get a completed distorted view of life. Yes, these events are happening. There is no denying that.  But it’s also true that one thing contains the whole cosmos, all life is contained in a single flower, and the entire universe is in a constant process of birth and creativity.

So here’s my two cents. Yes, of course, let’s be informed global citizens. Let’s care deeply about what is happening to our brothers and sisters across the planet. Let’s give help where we can. Let’s make a difference. But let’s not loose sight of the larger truth that is ever present, of the awe inspiring, miraculous fact of our very existence. Let’s not allow the nightly news to obscure the reality of the many untold acts of human kindness that are happening everywhere in every moment.

For surely, our awareness of that fact, of the sacred miracle of existence, of our interconnectedness with all of life, is what will tip the balance and help to create a world that works for all beings.