The five senses can register only a fraction of what's out there. Subtleties are easy to ignore for a while. I think all realities bubble to the surface eventually though, truths in need of reckoning.
The Transcendentalists had this idea of an "Over-soul" that connects all; a shared, divine, everlasting natural energy that fuels the spark of life. It's a limitless resource for inspiration and wisdom, inherently accessible to everyone--the gift of existence.
This seems like essentially the same idea Carl Jung refers to in Man and His Symbols of the archetypes. There exists among humanity a collective subconscious, Jung wrote, a universal body of knowledge we're born with that underlies our understanding of the world. It's expressed in signs and images that crop up independently through time and space; the mother, the hero, the flood, the god. He sees these touchpoints as evidence of a built-in psyche that surpasses culture and history.
It's hard to prove these sorts of things empirically. I like such ideas, however, because they feel right; we all came from one source, whether its Adam or some microbe or the Big Bang. Every species uses the same DNA base-pairs, and all matter is built from the same atomic foundation. Our connections are too deep to measure.
My classmates and I sat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial last weekend, watching the sun rise east of the Washington Monument, two years after we had originally intended. After this prolonged separation, hundreds of us came together once again, for the last time, to culminate a foundational, collective experience. I felt bitter excitement knowing this was officially the end--to know and live it happening brought a rush of emotions into my exhausted mind.
Though I don't know most of my fellow grads, I know we share an immeasurable connection. I was skeptical that a manufactured ceremony could initiate this feeling in me, but as with many ancient traditions, there is reason behind the pomp. I knew in the moment, on those hallowed stairs filled with people not so different than I, that we were drinking from the immortal waters, that we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what really is.
