Inflammation is a word that often brings to mind images of swelling or pain. Chronic inflammation is the hidden force behind the world’s most common diseases, from arthritis and heart disease to neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s. In a way, the body’s inflammatory response is simultaneously an attempt at communication—a signal that something is wrong and needs attention; something isn’t quite flowing as it should. It tells us to pay attention to where some pathway is blocked. It also represents an internal failure of communication or systems error. Both physical and cognitive systems are drawn to common focus.
Life is not just movement. It is circular movement. Circulation is evidence of life, of design. of intelligence. In the langauge of Deometry (no spelling mistake), God is the circle, as everything in all creation eloquently attests, from the cell to the sun and everything beyond, between and beneath.
As such, all the qualities of God are expressed by this symbol. Eternity, Unity, Infinity. Integrity. It is remarkably interesting that we chose the shape most representative of perfect fullness and completion as the mathematical symbol for nothingness and perfect void. That we should equate infinite vastness with perfect vacuum is either a stroke of genius or evidence of great stupidity, or perhaps both.
Not certain which, let’s explore both with respect to human relationship – the thing that most defines our existence – other specific human beings, how we relate to them and they to us. And not in too much abstraction, our philosophical focus is personal, and with respect to me, this Caribbean region I am a part of, and more specifically the circle of people known to me and I to them.
A friend of mine recently questioned the validity of such a distinction – Caribbean Civilization. How factual is the conception? Are there important distinguishers that separate us from the rest of the West, and what are they? And are they congruent enough distinguishers to propose a separate category? Important questions.
The only difference between concept and fact is degree and duration of human attention. So those for whom the identity matters, pay yours here, for as considered in The Tenuousness of Caribbean Civilization, (all items in red in this blog are hyperlinked) what we take for granted generally returns the favor.
Healthy communication is vital, whether to relationships within the human body or to relationships within the body of human community. Managing inflammation is crucial to maintaining the body’s harmony. Just as inflammation is a mechanism the body uses to protect and heal itself, human communication also has its own “healthy” struggles. Disagreements and occasional misunderstandings are natural parts of building strong relationships. It’s all about finding the balance.
Technically, that should not be as challenging as we are finding it. Chronic inflammation sounds the alarm for greater cognitive focus, but what happens when that system also is clogged to the max? Piles of unprocessed messages, unheeded warnings, deliberately ignored messages are routinely piling up. By the time the liver, lungs or heart is ready to give in, having screamed in vain for so long, the mind has become so accustomed to being ignored and ignoring that the response is “I dont give a damn!” And tragedy strikes. What could have been tonic becomes toxic.
There is a term used routinely by Christians. My observation is evidently most of us have never stopped to consider its meaning: Coined by Paul, expanding on Jesus’ teachings on his mystical identity with his ecclesia, (Vine, Bride, Body) the term of course is the Body of Christ. I have reflected much on the concept over the last 20 years. It was the single most concern of most of my early blogging activity. Perhaps, beguiled by Paul’s owm words, the church has emphasized the proclamation of Jesus’ death in his absence (1 Corinthians 11:29) rather than the manifestation of Jesus’ life in His Presence (which should have amounted to the same thing but for our limitations of understanding).
If these conversations even begin to bridge that breach of understanding, they were well worth the time investment.
