E HOA MA, INA TE ORA O TE TANGATA

It is hard to describe the supernova that explodes in the heart when a grandchild is born. It can be explained I guess in evolutionary terms. The clan / tribe ensures its success by taking care of the young. Individual parents and others help their own chances of survival into old age by having their young fit clan members there to look after them. From the continuity of life point of view, a child invoking benevolent emotional reactions in prime care givers must have some evolutionary advantage. So I guess in one sense there is a lot of self interest in all this malarkey.

Despite that, when I put this little one to bed for a siesta after feeding him his bottle and singing him "The Gipsy Rover" for the umpteenth time I sense something more than just self interest. There is something deeper here far beyond any sweet saccharine sentimentality or evolutionary self interest of ensuring the continuance of ones genetic code. There is a sense of connectedness that is deep and wide and this sense is driven more by intuition and a sense of transcendence than by scientific hypothesis or empirical data. There wells up from the depths a desire for the happiness and well being of this little one for no other reason than his happiness and well being. Love is sufficient unto itself, it is its own reason.

Is it too utopian an idea to hope that we could expand this concern and connectedness outwards in ever increasing concentric circles? What kind of world would it be if all the circles began to overlap and interact?

I guess a hope such as this is at the heart of the mystery and the transcendence of altruistic love. But this I  do know -  It begins nowhere else except here, now, within the good heart.

E hoa ma, ina te ora o te tangata
My friends, this is the essence of life.