Part of--Not Apart From

By Peter D. Relic

"There is no independent mode of existence. Every entity is only to be understood in terms of the way it is interwoven with the rest of the universe.'' --Alfred North Whitehead

I remember, years ago, standing on Galata Bridge in Istanbul, amazed that the whole world seemed to meet at the Bosporus. There were sampans and Chinese junks bouncing in the wake of motor launches, and a hundred freighters anchored out in the harbor waiting to dock. There were spires and steeples and turquoise blue minarets to dazzle the eye, homburgs and turbans and fezzes, Western rock and Indian sitar, and every spice imaginable, a wondrous panoply of sights and sounds and smells.

There were opinions on every issue, some in harmony, others clashing, people of different races and ethnic groups and languages mixing in a society of beggars and rich tourists, Ottoman Empire traditionalists and...