Was John Doone Right?

This is the second blog post generated by the birth of a new island on the “Pacific Ring of Fire” south of Japan in the Ogasawara Islands. The aberration captured my idle thinking for a couple of weeks. In all I read, it appears not to have been given a name yet. So, I took it upon myself to name the baby island “Frederick Island.”

I understand that beneath the ocean waters in the solid mass that held the water; there was a moment of chaos when the molten caldron’s goo pushed its way into the chaos of the turbulent water. Enough of the intruding solids spilled out that its collective mass split the waters, and “land” was formed.

Does that sound familiar to you? If you have read Genesis one, it should.

The story of God’s romance with humans begins: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

“In the beginning” does not merely announce the bringing of our universe into existence. The story of God’s love begins there, but “the beginning” refers to the whole of God’s grace flowing from his identity in the inconceivable to the conceived and back to the unimaginable.  

God created a place like “Frederick Island” from the unhabitable of two chaos: dirt and water. He made an environment that could and would support the point of creation, displaying His image, humans.

Very close to the beginning of my baby island musings came the familiar quote, “No man is an island.” Google and I danced around for two days, plowing in that fertile field of thought. John Donne (his last name rhymes with his first) (1571–1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier, and secretary who later became a cleric in the Church of England. He originated those words in a sermon and later put them into one of his poems, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

One of the earliest sentences humans utter is, “I can do it myself!” When sibling one is charged with overseeing the care of sibling two, the first directive from No.1 is met by No.2: You’re not the boss of me!” That was true for each of my three kids. We “mature” humans may not use those exact words, but we strongly assert their sentiment.

Humans love their perceived autonomy and self-determination. We do not naturally want to surrender our individuality. We resist even modifying our personal “Bill of Rights.” We recoil at the fear of becoming another beast in the herd. We go to great lengths to adorn our physical body with ink, dye, and wardrobe to make the unique qualities that separate us from the mundane, the expected, and the accepted.

Yet, in our culture, loneliness ravages our peace and security. We find solace in banding together in sub-groups of like-minded individuals. And that is the problem; we isolate ourselves from God by saying He does not exist or is unable, or He supports our conclusions.

John Doone is right. We are dependent upon each other, all others. Each human is a valued part of my person; for me to be healthy, I need you and them to be healthy. I think that is part of what God meant when He announced in Genesis 2:18, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.'”

Did you notice the words, “I will make …”? To be a healthy human, we need to be intimately connected to the One who created us. We will never find peace and joy together until we find it in Him.

Just for fun and meditation, here is John Doone’s poem:

No man is an island,

Entire of itself:

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less,

As well as if a promontory were,

As well as if a manor of thy friend’s

Or of thine own were:

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know

For whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

Photo – This photograph was taken in the side yard of a house damaged by the flood that crippled Whitesburg, Ky two summers ago. I was a part of a crew from Long Hollow Church helping with reconstruction.