This past week, we were talking about human versions of monocultures, and the loneliness that it fosters. The photographer Aristotle Roufinas’ images capture a way of seeing these monocultures in a particularly dramatic way, with images digitally stitched to capture the isolation and loneliness that isn’t always in view when we look at a city skyline.

These images are arresting — they capture a view of the earth that we could never actually see, but which is present in our understanding all the time. Maybe we don’t live in a high rise. Maybe we don’t feel completely alone. But the creeping sense of alienation, polarization and loneliness might bring us, from time to time, into dimly lit rooms surrounded by emptiness. Our loneliness may be our own creation, but it is lonely all the same.

Roufinas captures this experience in a particularly profound way.

We all help to make the world, and the worlds we inhabit are not always the same. Maybe you are a fortunate soul who has fostered all kinds of meaningful connections, and your world is not lonely. But if we’re lucky enough to have the proverbial lights on in our lives, others are living in a dark, alienated world.

As we learn from the natural world and enrich our own spiritual senses with the lessons it has to teach, we may find that the answers for the world we are all co-creating may come from the world that has already been created, the natural one around us.

Hope for us in our world comes in connection, and interconnection. It’s no surprise that a centerpiece of UU values has to do with our regard for the interwovenness of us and everything. We defeat isolation by reaching out, showing up, and holding on.

Sometimes it is hard to tap into our spiritual selves or find time to nurture our creativity and intellectual curiosity. Here is a section that reflects on some nourishing materials from around the web and related media channels in order to get us thinking, get us feeling, and get us reflecting on the lives we are living in this big world. **Some Adult/Mature Themes May Appear in Links and Other Attached Material**

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Allan T. Georgia, MDiv, MTS, PhD

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