Jewels of Indra’s Net & the Reality of Connection
You’re already part of Indra’s Net.
You just may not see it yet.
Heroes of Indra’s Net
Indra’s Net is full of Jewels (one could also call them Heroes). And if you have heroes, you must also have villains. This is how you get a drama or a story to experience, share, and tell. It is a numinous region of being where every action of living beings leaves a trace upon the the warp and woof of space and time. And, it is where every life touches more than it knows.
Nothing You Do Disappears
An exploration of connection, collapse, and consciousness.
Read Full Reflection on Indra’s Net Below
Indra’s Net: Why Everything Feels Like It’s Breaking (and Why It’s Not Random)
A few days ago, I searched for something I thought I had left behind: “Jewels of Indra’s Net.”
I had removed the page from my website years ago—part of simplifying, part of moving on. But when I searched for it, something unexpected happened.
An image appeared at the top of the AI overview.
It was mine.
A drawing I made seven years ago, during one of the most difficult periods of my life, was still there—circulating, reflecting, connecting—long after I had stopped pointing to it.
I didn’t plan for that. I didn’t promote it. I didn’t even keep it visible.
And yet… it remained.
That is Indra’s Net.
The Net We Live Inside
Indra’s Net is an ancient metaphor from Huayan Buddhism.
Imagine an infinite web stretching in all directions. At every intersection hangs a jewel. Each jewel reflects every other jewel in the net—infinitely, endlessly.
Nothing exists in isolation.
Every action, every choice, every fracture, every act of care—ripples across the whole.
Not metaphorically.
Structurally.
When Indra’s Net Becomes Visible
I didn’t come to this idea through philosophy.
I came to it through collapse.
Seven years ago, I lost my father.
At the same time, I lost my job at a Lutheran non-profit after choosing to be with him before he died. My father had spent 55 years as a Lutheran pastor. What I experienced in that moment didn’t feel like compassion or faith.
It felt like betrayal.
Not just personal betrayal—but systemic. The kind that makes you question whether the values people claim to live by are real at all.
At first, I reached outward—toward community, toward people who seemed to understand.
But as my grief deepened, they fell away too.
One by one.
That was another kind of revelation.
The net doesn’t just reflect support.
It reflects abandonment.
It reflects contradiction.
It reflects the full spectrum of what we are.
The Part We Don’t Like to Admit
There’s a tendency to turn ideas like interconnectedness into something comforting.
“We are all one.”
“Everything is connected.”
But that’s only half the truth.
As Aion makes clear, if what we call “good” is real, then what we call “evil” is real too. These are not abstract categories—they are lived psychological realities.
And in a system where everything reflects everything else…
Both are present everywhere.
Some parts of the net sustain life.
Some parts of the net corrode it.
Most of us carry both.
From Personal Collapse to Collective Pattern
What I experienced on a personal level, I now see playing out at scale.
Institutions that claim moral authority acting without it.
Leaders who present themselves as saviors while deepening division.
Systems that reward performance over truth.
Figures like Donald Trump don’t exist outside the net—they are expressions of it. Amplifications of certain traits that already exist within the collective.
That doesn’t make those traits inevitable.
But it does make them interconnected.
What we ignore, we participate in.
What we amplify, we strengthen.
The Work of Becoming a Conscious Node
For a long time, I thought the goal was to escape the pain—to find the “good” part of the system and stay there.
That’s not how it works.
You don’t step outside the net.
You become aware within it.
You begin to see:
- where you are creating
- where you are destroying
- where you are reflecting something you don’t yet understand
This awareness doesn’t make life easier.
But it makes it real.
Why This Matters Now
If things feel like they are unraveling right now, it’s not because the system suddenly broke.
It’s because more of the system is becoming visible.
The contradictions.
The fractures.
The feedback loops.
Indra’s Net isn’t failing.
It’s revealing.
The Quiet Truth
That drawing I made years ago—during grief, confusion, and loss—didn’t disappear.
It continued to move through the network, quietly, until it surfaced again in a completely different context.
That’s how this works.
You don’t always see the impact of what you create.
You don’t always know what you’re part of.
You don’t control how the reflections travel.
But they do.
Where This Leads
Everything I’m working on now grows out of this understanding:
- The Sapient Survival Guide explores how to stay conscious inside collapsing systems
- Houses of Wreckage maps the structures that amplify destructive forces
- Girl With Dragon and Wanderlust explore the inner journey through loss, meaning, and transformation
They are not separate projects.
They are reflections within the same net.
Final Thought on Indra’s Net
I still believe what I sensed back then:
We are all jewels in the net.
But not all reflections are life-giving.
The question isn’t whether you are connected.
The question is:
What are you reflecting—and what reflects through you?
Lessons From the Net
What I have learned so far is that wisdom mostly sits between the opposites of good and evil, high and low, rich and poor, saint and sinner, Hero and Villain. Seven years ago,
I didn’t go looking for this understanding.
I found it when everything I trusted began to fall apart.
That is how most things begin…. by accident.
I chronicled my descent in a blog series called: The Divine Dodo.
“You don’t step outside of Indra’s Net. You become aware within it.”
What It Means
- You are part of a system where actions ripple outward
- Creation and destruction exist in the same network
- Awareness changes how you participate
- What feels personal is often systemic
Reflections Inside
The Net Holds — Onto to grief, loss, disappointment, trauma… indeed, these “bad” states of being are treasures, really. They are Terrible Treasures that must be experienced to their core in order to begin the process of healing.
It is clear to me Now that only the process of being cracked wide open… by something bad, something unexpected, something beyond our control... that the most valuable insights are gained. It is this painful process of becoming aware of our Terrible Treasures that we really begin to grow consciously… to move beyond our rote, cultural programming.
Only at the bottom of the Pit of Grief or Lost or Trauma is where glimmers of reality are truly recovered. Only by seeing and accepting glimmers of wholeness does one gain the ability to become a whole person. This process of becoming whole does not mean becoming perfect, rather it means understanding that one is capable of everything (the good, the bad, and the ugly).
It is from this dark and lonely place where healing and conscious growth can begin to sprout. At least this is true for me. It was when I found myself at this bottom of a deep pit pf despair inside my soul where I truly glimpsed the dueling opposites living inside of me. And it is where I gained glimmers of the wider web of connection holding all of us together and determining our individual and collective fate.
Falling Dodo — A visual study of collapse and catch.
Fractured Mirrors — When systems reflect their worst parts, and everything falls apart. It usually happens from the inside out.
Origins: First Reflections on the Jewels of Indra’s Net
These piece were written during a period of deep grief and mark the beginning of this body of work. I’ve kept it here as part of the record.
Where This Leads
Sapient Survival Guide
How to stay conscious inside collapsing systems
Houses of Wreckage
Mapping the structures that amplify destruction
Girl With Dragon
A journey through grief, transformation, and return
Wanderlust
The search for meaning across inner and outer worlds
The net is always there.
The question is whether you see it.
Carry Indra’s Net With You
Indra’s Net Pendant Necklace — Divine Dodo: The Fall — Indra’s Net Pendant is a Hand-Drawn Story Necklace.
Divine Dodo: The Fall — Indra’s Net Pendant (Hand-Drawn Story Necklace), Oval Necklace Pendant, Artistic Teardrop Necklace
This piece carries a story.
Separate / Connected — Hidden Message Heart Necklace — Engraved with Separate on the outside and Connected within, it reflects a deeper reality—what feels isolated is never truly alone
Separate / Connected, Hidden Message, Heart Necklace, Indra’s Net Collection, Mindful Jewelry
This delicate heart Separate / Connected pendant holds a quiet truth.
Falling / Held — Hidden Message Sliding Bar Necklace — Engraved with Falling on the outside and Held within, this sliding bar necklace reflects a quiet truth: even in moments of collapse, something unseen can still catch us
Falling / Held, Hidden Message, Sliding Bar Necklace, Indra’s Net Collection, Custom Engraved, Secret Message, Pendant
At first glance, Falling / Held appears simple.
Jewels of Indra’s Net Candle — A Reflection of Connection — Inspired by Indra’s Net—the idea that everything is connected and nothing exists in isolation—this piece carries the original jewel-toned artwork that continues to ripple through the digital world years after it was first created.
Jewels of Indra’s Net Candle, A Reflection on Connection (11oz Soy Candle), Peaceful Moments, Deep Reflection
Light this Jewels of Indra’s Net Candle and watch how two small flames change the entire room.