All Creation is born from an act of communion. For us as human beings, everything that is manifesting in our lives is the consequence of communion.

Nowhere is this more plainly evident than in human procreation. The sexual communion of man and woman unleashes the power of Creation that brings forth a child. The same principle works throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and beyond.

What most interests me is how we, as human beings, are creating all the time according to the little acts of communion in which we participate every day—a conversation, an e-mail, a smile…

Here is one definition of communion:

The sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.

So many people are waiting for the right person to show up in their life before they have the pleasure of this experience. Or they are waiting for the people who are currently present to change. And so the experience of communion dwindles over time, and the enjoyment and creativity of communion ebbs in the person’s experience.

The truth is that we have the immediate opportunity to initiate greater levels of communion with the people we see every day. And when we take advantage of that opportunity, we unleash a creative magic that opens up the people around us, and draws new people to be with us. At the same time, people who are not interested in sharing that experience may distance themselves from us. And that’s a good thing.

Out of every act of communion, something is born—a new idea, a friendship, a new job, a new place to live…

A wise man once told me that the most creative communion we can share with another person begins at the highest level. All too often, it begins at the lowest level. People attempt to relate at a physical level first, without paying attention to communion at the mental, emotional and spiritual levels of Being. They begin a relationship with an effort to work out the physical dimensions of it—the where, the when and the how much. If it’s a romantic relationship, they begin with physical attraction. I believe that physical sexuality is, by its nature, sacred and beautiful. But it certainly doesn’t come out that way in personal experience when a relationship starts there.

What is the highest level of communion possible to us as human beings? Hmmm. I don’t want to try to answer that question in a definitive way for fear of limiting what more might be possible in my own experience. But here is some of what I know. It involves the kinds of human experience that are most precious to me. The highest love I have ever felt. The most profound care and compassion. The most brilliant truth. It involves a holy reality that I have shared in exquisite times with another person.

I find a strong tendency in myself and others to anchor our relationships in the physical reality in which we live. There can be no question that the practicalities of our life are important, and the physical reality of things can be beautiful. And if we try to ignore the practical, it comes back to kick us in the rear. And still, my experience tells me that real communion is anchored in the highest dimensions of our human experience.

Jesus’ teaching of communion echoes through time and rings with clarity even today:

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Is this not your own experience of communion? When it was really happening with another person, were you not ushering in a reality that was larger than either of you? A greater presence, a greater love, and higher knowing?

It could happen during an enthusiastic conversation, a silent walk, or a shared glass of wine. Or in the creation of a business plan, a song or a website. Our exchange of intimate thoughts and feelings—sharing the most profound and sacred dimensions of our Being—invites the power of Creation. It invites the larger presence of the Creator. Something is born. The world changes.

While it is true that by communing with the creative essences brought by another person something wonderful is born, the same principle can create misery. If you commune with the negativity of another person, you will be sure to creative negativity in your life. If you take their complaint into your soul, it gives birth to resentment. If you take their fear into your heart, it gives birth to anxiety. Resentment and anxiety create a world that is falling apart.

In communion, there is creative energy and information being given and received. The process relies on that free and powerful giving and receiving. According to the quality of what passes between us at all levels, so is the reality we create.

Ponder this truth and see the wonder of it. Creation in a human life is not simply toil. It is communion. Anything worth doing is an opportunity for communion. If you are buying soap at the grocery store, it is an opportunity for communion with people in the store. If you are creating an oil painting, it is an opportunity for communion with the people who will see it. If you are writing a computer program, it is an opportunity for communion with the people who will use it.

Reading this article is an opportunity for communion. I am certainly calling upon a higher presence and a higher intelligence as I write. I am sharing who I am. You have an opportunity to receive that from me and to write back if you so choose. The whole exercise might seem to be just words to one person. To another, it is communion.

Are you interested in allowing the most creative things to be born in your life? Here are three important factors to reflect on as you explore your own communion:

1. Don’t underestimate the power of your receiving. When you listen to another person, when you take their positive creativity deeply into your mind and heart, even into your soul, you are drawing it out of them. You are welcoming their creativity into the world.
2. Give your gift. How much of yourself are you willing to share with another person? In each everyday interchange with another person, you have a mini-opportunity to bare some part of your soul, share your creative thinking, or share your appreciation for another person. You have a lifelong opportunity to share the wonder of who you are.
3. Welcome the higher presence of Being. When you commune with another person in whatever way, consciously and deliberately open yourself to a third presence—a higher love, a higher intelligence, a higher reality. Invite it into the relationship. Call upon it within yourself. See it in the other person. Let it shape and inform what you are sharing.