In Sync

Many of us have important computer files that we want to have backed up in a remote location in case our hardware devices are lost, damaged or stolen, and we want to have those files accessible from any of our computing devices at any time from wherever we happen to be. The incredible solution to that need is file-syncing services that save our files in the computer cloud. Anytime you make changes on your laptop or smart phone to any file that you have synced with the cloud, those same changes go off somewhere into the cloud and are saved there too.

I don’t have to do anything but tap-tap-tap on my keyboard and everything I do is harmonized with a master copy available everywhere but located nowhere. It is a technological wonder to me—-and one that happens to be free, by the way—-and another bit of evidence of how innovation can assist and support us in so many areas of our lives.

But there is another aspect of this wondrous offering that caught my eye. It was the recognition that all aspects of life are actually in sync with everything all at once. And my attention was drawn to a form of miraculous syncing that goes on that is so very common that it is usually taken for granted.

It so happens that three weeks ago I developed an infection that got to be so severe that the infected area was swollen up the size of a lemon, such that sitting, sleeping and doing any sort of concentrated work were almost impossible. The wisest thing to do with a bodily invasion like this is to go to the doctor’s office and have them put their cutting knives to good use. That is what happened, albeit with no anesthesia and with a firm conviction that I never wanted to have to do this again.

What we are left with after such a procedure is a large gash and a wound that is quite painful, swollen and vulnerable to further infection. Many of us have had something like this, so we know the conditions associated with it, but there is something more going on here than what might be evident at first glance: without our doing anything other than skillfully allowing nature to take its course, a miracle occurs. The natural healing processes of the body take over and gradually do their work. Slowly, imperceptibly they re-create the wellness, easefulness and functionality that had been temporarily moved aside by the disease.

What was three weeks ago a bloody, ugly mess is now totally transformed; and I didn’t do anything at all except stand by and watch as it took place. An incredible intelligence was at work doing something that borders on the unbelievable. I should also add, had the wound remain diseased, it would have been the very same intelligence in evidence, allowing the bacteria to do the astonishing work that they so naturally and ably do.

There is a second bit of evidence of the miraculous amidst the day-to-day that I had the privilege to notice yesterday. It is midsummer in Sweden now, and by the roadsides are hundreds of lupine flowers growing wild. Lupines have long stalks with small pea-shaped flowers branching off from the main stalk. I brought four of these flowers back with me to my room and put them together in a glass vase that is narrow enough that each of the flower stalks were touching.

It was the next afternoon that I noticed that a natural wonder had taken place: in the course of only sixteen hours the four stalks had grown apart. They had somehow sensed that they were too close to their neighboring flowers and would be limited in their exposure to sunlight. The stalks each now had a curve in the shape of their stem that would enable the flowers to receive more light. This curve they had formed after having been uprooted and taken out of their natural environment and placed in an artificial container—-but still the intelligence in them knew just what to do.

Computer cloud syncing, wound-healing and lupine growth adjustments—-how does all this tie together? Well, simply, the wonder of it all! How the hell is all this possible? What guides all this? What holds it together? It is so clear that this whole expanse, billions and billions of light years of existence, has a natural intelligence that allows everything to unfold so remarkably. I have only given some few examples, but there are millions of examples of the expression of this intelligence, each more amazing than the other.

I am convinced that this human intelligence that we call our own is the same natural intelligence that cures wounds and bends flower stalks. We are a total expression of that natural intelligence in every aspect of our being, but somehow we haven’t felt this to be true. We have felt limited to a body and disconnected from this uniting essence.

Just as our computer files are synced within a more inclusive system, our own human experience is naturally synced with a much larger intelligence that is everywhere, in every time and in every place without being anywhere or in any time in particular. To consciously sync with this natural intelligence is so very simple. It happens by not doing anything. By merely allowing everything to be-—all thoughts, emotions, sensations and experiences—-we remain integrated with that natural intelligence. We don’t block it by wanting it to be some other way. We are already naturally in sync, whatever is going on, and we only need to recognize that.

So, this is happy news: wounds heal, flowers grow, universes carry on performing the miraculous, and we are very much a part of this wondrous swirl. Our syncing with natural intelligence takes place in short moments of recognizing that intelligence, over and over again, never wavering, always pulling our attention back to this presence. There is no arrival point, only more and more unfolding of joy and gratitude as the abundance becomes more evident. That is a syncing that is truly worth the name!