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Scent of Light Episode
by Ken Norton
Belonging
Broadcast on January 26, 2020
Mp3 Player
The audio file above is the spoken word recording
without background music provided to Radio KOWS 92.5 FM broadcast of the
Scent of Light episode for insert into the Radio Spotlight Magazine
with host Andre Marc.
In this episode on the Scent of Light I will speak on
Belonging.
We all know that feeling of belonging, or when it is
lacking and feeling alone. During the holiday family gathering I noticed our
15-month old great granddaughter clinging to her mother. She is beginning to
feel that belonging also with her other relatives, especially with her two
grandmothers who dote over her. She, like us, will develop her preferences
for belonging in making friends, and she is being guided by her parents to
be open to new friends of different appearances and color of skin. She is
learning to socialize, to interact with other humans, some close to her age
like her 3-year older cousin, but most are older relatives and friends of
the parents. She is also learning to interact with the family dog. This all
helps mold her sense of belonging to her family and the nature they share.
Eventually she will extend her belonging to children
of her age group, her peers that she will meet on attending school and
growing up in her neighborhood. Clubs, sports, church and hobby group
memberships could also be expressions of her belonging as she matures into
an adult. She may find a loving partner and start a family of her own, with
its special belonging.
Participation in a group taps into a sense of
belonging; so it is important that we understand our personal desire for
belonging. Do we want to belong to a group of certain kinds of people that
make us feel a certain way? How does this desire compare with the desire to
fulfill the mission of the group? We can see that we already have two
desires pulling in our decision-making. We can see how important it is that
we know our self in a group setting. If we have a need to belong that is
stronger then our loyalty to the mission of the group then we’ll make
decisions to guard those friendships a priority, and the group mission may
suffer a setback for those decisions not being the wisest choice.
Belonging, as wonderful and necessary for the healthy
development of the child, can be the bane of social decision-making, if
belonging is not lifted out of belonging exclusively to familiar people or
ideas. This is why we have transformational events in our life, the near
death experiences, the born again baptisms, the initiations into higher,
wider and all-inclusive consciousness of the mystics of religions around the
world and of the ages. We see in these opportunities a glimpse of our True
Self, one with the universe and with a unique purpose guided by the “still
small voice” of our conscience. This Self that holds this sense of cosmic
belonging will be better able to make decisions in the group that favor the
mission, which is now compared with one's conscience and no longer to
popularity. We can through daily meditation and mindfulness exercises hold
this cosmic belonging dear.
My mentor wrote the following poem on belonging. When
he uses the terms “Lord”, “He”, and “God”, take them, as he did when I knew
him, as word symbols referring to an understanding surpassing our
intellectual comprehension and notions of gender.
Glorious Togetherness
by William Hermanns
The Lord has pulled you into light
with spiritual friends in sight.
They glow to tell the tale.
You're now the love that feeds the flock.
You're now the wave that hits the rock,
a cloudburst in a gale.
You weave on earth — God gives the thread
soon black, soon white, soon fiery red,
now joy, and now distress.
Whatever form you appear to be,
is still you, it is still He,
glorious togetherness.*
This is Ken Norton on the Scent Of Light. You can
contact me via Ken at KennethENorton.com and I would be glad to hear from
you. The Scent of Light episodes are archived on the web at
kennethenorton.com.
Thanks for listening.
About the Author and Producer
Ken Norton earned his master's degree in Materials Science from Stanford
University as the Vietnam War was ending. During that time Ken served as the
personal assistant to a poet/sociologist Dr. William Hermanns as he prepared
his writings for publication, exposing Ken to not only the sciences but also
the humanities and comparative religion for making conscious and
conscionable choices.
Ken is a regular contributor to Radio Spotlight Magazine with his episodes
on the Scent of Light.
