Our modern society presents us with the mythology that answers these philosophical questions like “Who am I?” or “What’s my purpose in life?” But once we answer all those questions through the story of separation, then what is the alternative? What does interbeing mean to you? Check out the video to find out! 

Why does the sun shine? Why does the rain fall? Why do you exist in this world? These are just a few examples of what author Charles Eisenstein explores in his work on separation and interbeing. 

What is Charles Eisenstein’s Story of Separation? 

The story of separation revolves around a certain set of philosophical questions like Who am I? What’s possible? What is my role on earth?

Separation is a story. A methodology and an experience of being in the world. The experience and the conception of self are separate from the other. 

To dig deeper into the story of separation let me put it this way. I am me and I am separate from you. Physical matter is separate from your spirit. Human beings are separate from nature. However, we are all interdependent on each other somehow through the natural world. 

The story of separation essentially means that your very existence as an individual is separate among other individuals in society. Based on this objective, reality has nothing to do with you.

The story of separation holds every individual as separate selves in the infinite universe surrounded by mass, atoms, and force. Since we are separate individuals from nature, as human beings we are programmed to become masters of nature and ultimately dominate our competitors. 

What is Charles Eisenstein’s Story of Interbeing? 

The Story of Interbeing is not that simple. Interbeing says that we are interdependent not only conditionally, as in – I need the oxygen that the algae make or that I need the food that comes from the soil and sun. We are separate from having relationships. It goes beyond interdependency, our existence is relational. 

There’s something in you in me, that if the rainforest dies, it is not just you who can’t breathe. But it says even if I can breathe, even if we have machines to produce oxygen and we do not need nature anymore. Something nonetheless is guiding me when the rainforest dies. 

In other words, it also means what happens to the world, happens to me. What happens to me, happens to the world, and happens to you. That our inner experience and the external world are connected. 

New age thinking is getting at this truth when they talk about something like leaves creates reality. It’s not that simple. Even then the preconceptions and separations sneak in. There is a separate believer manifesting the world. So, this relationship is much more mysterious. We can say that we are in a relationship with the universe. 

​What is Charles Eisenstein’s advice on becoming aware if you feel disconnected? How can you get in there? How does the separate self know what’s lost? 

You are aware because there’s a hunger you feel. It’s instinctual. There is a hunger that gives birth to an aspiration. Think of it as a yearning to know to reconnect. 

A feeling of being shut down can give you the awareness that you can feel fully alive. Not all the way present. If important relationships have been disconnected and that disconnect drives endless attempts to reconnect, it can push someone into awareness. We know there is something to reconnect to because we hunger for it. 

If you want to learn more about relationships go to http://relationshipschool.com/training.