Alone yet surrounded.

That bittersweet feeling of being lost in your thoughts during the peak hour train, hundreds of people surrounding you yet never feeling more alone. The almost heartbreaking feeling of scrolling through social media platforms, surrounded by information...surrounded by communication yet feeling almost painfully isolated.

Despite a world where instant, digital communication is the norm, as a society they had never been more isolated. She saw this, the way her occupants bustled past one another...so physically close yet so emotionally far. What had happened over the past few generations that had caused the segregation of her people? What specific series of events had caused this worldwide isolation? 

I mean, of course, there were some cultures where they celebrated the more traditional ways of family and sharing. These communities would intrinsically tie ancestry and everyday life into a physical living celebration that continued to be living proof that some of her occupants still commemorated life for what it was, the pure joy of being alive...of living. The incredible circumstances that allowed life and all its aspects to exist.

In some circumstances, despite the fact that the humans were the most physically evolved creatures to live amongst all her inhabitants spiritually...they were certainly not in the top few species and this recent societal divide only was hindering rather than helping their process. Of course, there were certain outliers but overall as a species, they were becoming more and more a solidarity species in an age where society was meant to be celebrating unity rather than fearing it.

It saddened her, especially as the society grew further apart the more they damaged her...and the other occupants of her. The Animal Kingdom was so very fragile, the delicate balance that allowed life was so easily disturbed...yet this homo sapien species seemed to do everything in their power to destroy it and in the process destroy themselves.

Through their incessant need for isolation and solidarity...for things they could own for themselves they were not only destroying her, but destroying themselves. They were destroying the very things that made them human. Emotion, passion, love...sharing, and caring. None of it seemed to matter anymore in an age of the accumulation of individual wealth, power, and the sadness and loneliness that came along with these factors that they tried to avoid by repeating the cycle again and again. 

When would they learn? When would they realise that to continue to evolve, to aid Gaia in evolving that they simply needed to look to the animal kingdom...to more family-based cultures for their inspiration and guidance rather than corporate ladders and the constant stream of superficial information that bombarded their devices in a never-ending cycle?

Occasionally, she would spy an awakened one...or an awakening one. These individuals were normally from the areas where modern digital comforts rarely reached, meaning that their days were filled with more nature-based activities. The children would use the trees and waterways as their entertainment while home-cooked meals and fireplaces were sacred events of sharing knowledge and stories...of helping one another evolve. 

Solidarity was treated as a sacred institution where individuals entered to calm the mind and nourish the soul. It was a place where the ego was cast aside for the spirit to run free...to rejuvenate before it was cast back into the physical boundaries of the mortal world. Solidarity was treated as spirituality and not a religion...it was treated as the freedom and as the gift it was rather than a burden or punishment.

It was these communities, these small snippets of hope and prosperity that kept her from giving up on humanity in general and starting over. It was the small yet steady, gradual accumulation of awakening and free-spirited individuals...that banded together to form these sort of new-age communities that had her hopeful for the future. The energetic traces of these peaceful communities had begun to and would continue to reach into parts of the isolated world...perhaps it would warm it’s frozen spirit...perhaps it would instigate the beat of life once more in a dulled down society. 

In a society where you could be surrounded by people and be in near-constant communication yet feel so heartbreakingly alone. It hurt her to see her people suffering, despite the damage they themselves were doing to her in their greedy exploits and resource exploitation...yet they were her children. They needed to learn but at this rate, they were going backward...their progress was stalling, when would she need to intervene? When everything had been said and done, she would eradicate the problem before it eradicated her and the oasis she had painstakingly created.

So she would wait...and she would hope. She would observe and she would pray that these superficial societies of lonely and depressed people would realise that despite the buzz around them...that true companionship came from spirit rather than tangible items. She hoped that they would realise that it was the non-physical aspects...feelings and emotions that brought people together rather than the physical distance between them.

Solidarity didn’t need to be a curse, it didn’t need to be a label of shame. It was an integral part of life, just as breathing was. It was in the moments of calm, through the moments of outside speculation that the inside observations could be understood. It was the act of isolation in itself that allowed these human spirits to understand the world they lived in, not necessarily from a physical point of view but from peering behind the visible world into the smokescreen behind it. Like a member of the audience glimpsing the hidden backstage world, a world full of mystery and surrounded by curiosity.

So she would be patient...she would wait. She would watch civilisations continue to rise and fall. She would watch the steady heartbeat of life and death. She would wait for a glimpse, for the most subtle sign of change. For a glimmer of hope...for the hope that her creation would begin to evolve once again. For the hope that through their own isolation that her people will prosper once more.

Yet for now...she could only watch. She watched the bustling people as they herded together on their transport, so physically close yet with painful loneliness in their eyes. She watched as they scrolled through their constant yet meaningless communication that did nothing to raise their spirits. She watched as they strayed further and further from their true selves while she lay in the hope that they would return to their true path. 

It was through the painful solidarity that this civilisation was going through, that they would realise the true power of being alone...at this point. This was when she knew they would be ready to evolve as a species again. When the silence became comfortable. When they became comfortable with their true selves.