By Kate Henry
Homer Independent Press

I recently found myself seated in a room of roughly 20 people in our little Cosmic Hamlet. These were passionate Homerites coming together to discuss the necessity for honest and non-biased news. Springing into action after mounting frustrations with many current narratives, this ambitious group committed to begin anew with a paper that has the potential to offer our community something rich, local, honest, and alive. The energy in the room supporting this vision felt potent, and I was immediately compelled to contribute. 

That evening, while I made chicken curry for myself and my daughter, I started thinking about where we lost our way as a community (and as a nation). It’s fair to say, this is only an opinion, but I believe there’s plenty of data to support this notion in recent years.  I asked myself, “What elements have created so much division in our country? How have we lost our connection to one another so much so that we prefer our dog to our neighbor?”  You know the saying… “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” Dear community members, how have we gotten to this place? 

Don’t get me wrong — my dog, Filbert, is the best. It’s easy to see a preference for our faithful furry friends. After all, they love us unconditionally. They don’t challenge our belief systems. They let us live very comfortably in our own perception of reality. The neighbor, on the other hand, asks us to stretch beyond our comfort zone and recognize a version of humanity that shows up to life often quite different than we do. In other words, it takes effort to befriend the neighbor, as well as flexibility, curiosity, and willingness. 

We’re often open for a while to meeting new people, but sooner or later, most of us I would say, grow tired of navigating people, and often take the path of least resistance. Why? I believe because we prefer being comfortable. There was a time in human history when we were skilled at accepting one another, perhaps when it was a necessity. Now, for better or worse, I wonder if we have had the luxury of being able to shut others out that do not please us, and in doing so, we’ve lost a valuable set of skills. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. What we gained in individualism, we lost in connectability. 

This series of questions is not new to me. I’ve been wandering down this path looking for insight into community wellness for many years. It was driven by the necessity to create harmony in my own home. Two years ago, I took a trip to Namibia to visit the Saan people, who are one of the last semi-nomadic hunter gatherer tribes in the world. I noticed at one point that the men and women never went into the bush alone. They always went in pairs, even to go to the bathroom. I asked a few of the men if this was for safety. The answer I received says a lot in my mind about “the what” that we westerners have lost (and in many ways, probably don’t realize we’re missing). They said, “Yes for safety, but mainly because we prefer each other’s company.” It was the sweetest statement, and it also left me feeling a bit sad for my own people who prefer the company of their dog. 

A very wise friend of mine recently said to me, “You haven’t fully gotten yourself through a problem until you’re glad you had the problem in the first place.” What would that look like, I wonder, for humanity to get to a place where we are grateful for one another and for the ways we feel challenged by one another? Is it possible that the only real distance between us is tied directly to the ways we separately interpret and experience “reality?” Meaning, we’re all separately perceiving reality, but perception is incredibly limited, I might even say illusory.

According to research by Markus Meister and Jieyu Zheng at the California Institute of Technology, “The Unbearable Slowness of Being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s?”,  human sensory systems gather data at a rate of 1 billion bits per second but only process it at 10 bits per second.  “Why can we only think one thing at a time while our sensory systems process thousands of inputs at once?” the study asks. 

Perhaps in order to function and formulate coherent thought, that data needs to be filtered down through our belief systems and past experiences. By the end of this trickling down process, we’re left with only a few thousand bits of data that match and validate reality as we know it. Everything else gets thrown out because it’s not recognized by our “database.” So essentially, we’re making everything up. We’re meaning making machines. As Albert Einstein said, Reality is merely an Illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

I believe we’re facing the problems of today not by accident, and I remain hopeful that there is a gift awaiting us on the other side of this contrast-filled moment in history, that can offer humanity an opportunity to reclaim a power we have long forgotten in the west. Together, if we’re willing to bravely look in the mirror and take responsibility for our own contribution to the problems of our era, I believe the tide will change, Mother Earth will find her center, and our people will again celebrate and marvel at our differences. 

I hope to create a column that helps to feed this reunion in our neighborhoods and towns. To accomplish this, I would be honored to interview locals, and in doing so, I hope to spark a curiosity and a living connection to the wisdom held within our individual uniqueness. 

I see humanity as a great garden. Many people here are incredibly talented gardeners, and it’s a talent I admire deeply. I’ve never had a knack for gardening plants, but I do see myself as a gardener of people, and I believe we all offer the “garden” something vital. It is this vital essence I hope to capture and present through the Homer Independent Press platform, and I’m calling the column Wild Wellness, in honor of the spark or impulse towards passion that we all possess, and uniquely express. 

I hope to spark your passion and a sense of connection in a space that both challenges, and hopefully warms your heart. Many blessings and be well neighbors. Until we meet again. 

Kate Henry is a massage therapist and Inner Alignment Healer in Homer. Find out more about Kate on her website at www.thehouseofgratitude.com