Relation as a core value is the belief and practice of applying our knowledge of the relational universe to our interactions with others. Each individual is, in all moments, an expression of the totality of the universe, ever-changing and ever-extending from their unique conscious coordinates. When we examine being through the lens of the single truth, we develop an understanding of how we, as individuals, relate to all else within the external infinity expanding all around us. If we could capture and comprehend a single moment, we would see that it is the entirety of information, constantly evolving through the development of interweaving patterns. We embrace the spiritual significance of relation through our understanding that everything within our universe exists in relation to something else. Together, information and the observer give rise to consciousness. Separate the two and there is only void. As there can be no separation, they are one and the same—a single expression of intelligence happening in nearly infinite directions within moments of awareness.
Relation as a core value influences our behavior through the development of deep respect. It is a recognition of oneness, expressed through our shared humanity as fractional observers within the greater whole. When I view another, I know that they are me, and I them. It is a meaning philosophy of great love, of truly embracing the other as a whole, a cohesive aspect of our time experience. Each is a unique but equally valuable part of the whole. We know this because all individuals possess a fraction of infinity that is theirs to direct. The time experience is a sacred place, and all who inhabit it are worthy of it. Relation as a spiritual value creates interpersonal conflicts with frameworks of being that deny respect to the many. Spiritual respect is not a platitude; it influences everything about how we view ourselves and others. All individuals deserve dignity as a birthright. It is the only moral option in a relational universe governed by the single truth.
This framework of understanding others influences many verticals of our lives. To know relation is to know great openness. We can perceive others beyond the information available to us within the immediate present. This translates to not forming concrete opinions of others based on our limited understanding, even when they’ve made a poor initial impression. We never know the depth of another’s journey but can easily understand how we all have days when we are simply not at our best. When the other is us, we offer them respect through genuine love and interest. We seek to raise others to the level of respect, dignity, and freedom they deserve. Together, each exists in an intertwined existence of change, always becoming more but struggling to direct the flow of it, a single time experience full of intelligence and information expanding in different directions. Our identification of the moment as living experience is at the same time a recognition of others as inseparable parts of the greater whole.
Relation as a core value also generates restlessness within the individual. Today many inhabit time experiences of silent obedience because there are no alternatives. Our systems tell us to reject our limitlessness in favor of the illusion of security. To embrace the slow, repetitive death of our spirit and imagination so we might die comfortably—as if death could ever be comfortable or convenient. This vision of humanity, a mindless cog within a larger machine, transforms both individual and collective into a shadow of their potential. Systems that do not allow and encourage self-transformation fail humanity in the development of respect for ourselves and others. Our understanding of relation as a spiritual value sits in deep opposition to the reduction of our experience. This also applies to systems that only focus on the greater good while actively denying our individual greatness. The institutionalization of self-denial at the expense of self-expression dulls our imaginations and diminishes our powers. To embrace relation as a spiritual focus is to understand that the reduction of another is a reduction of self.
