in the USA,today is our birthday (245th), the day our Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776; today let us also affirm our fundamental Interdependence with fellow siddhizens of our commonunion and our shared country, the world… The first Declaration of Interdependence was written by Will Durant in 1944, since then there have been many versions offered by different people and organizations. This affirmation, written by Melanie Bacon, is perfect for every day…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all life is interconnected, and endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights and responsibilities,

That among these are presence, compassion, and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights and responsibilities,

We open our minds and hearts to the needs of others, and our own true needs,

We hear the sound of the living universe in our ears, and add our voices to the song,

We live every moment with awareness of the purity and power of existence.

And for the support of this Declaration, we pledge to each other our love and our breath,

For the freedom of the one is the freedom of the all, and the pain of the one is the pain of the all;

The breath of the one is the breath of the all, and the breath of the all is the breath of God.”

  in this moment of eternity as we tune into the astonishing light of our being, i re-member back to undergraduate days in the late sixties and early seventies when life was a running consciousness conversation with interdependence as one of our favorite musings… we were feeling the energy of oneness and interconnection, of ubuntu, a term appearing in South African sources back in the mid-nineteenth century…

i love the beautifully illustrative story of an anthropologist proposing a game to some children in an African tribe where he puts a basket of fruit near a tree telling them whoever gets there first wins the sweet fruits… so, he gives the signal to run and they all take each others hands and run together and then sit in a circle enjoying the treats… when questioned as to why they chose to run as a group, out of the mouths of babes poured wisdom… ubuntu, how can one of us be happy if all the rest are sad?

may we all live ubuntu… I AM because WE ARE… and, may we affirm our dedication to cosmic stewardship of a world of peace built on justice for all guided by unconditional love for all our relations real-eye-sing there’s only one of us here and we depend on each other to interbe…

and, now, let’s close this sacred space of ceremony with the blessing we began reciting 32 days ago into the sacred fire within, the inner light of great spirit residing in all our relatives: may this day be blessed with gifts, lessons, understanding and friends… may our energy be a gift to all we meet… let us be centered, healing and open facing the day with courage, kindness, insight and compassion… may we honor this day…

shanti shanti shantihi…