Nexus is derived from Latin nectere, which means “to bind.” First of its three possible definitions will be explored in this article. Definition 1: Nexus as a means of connection, link or a tie.
A connected relationship involves a union between two or more people. We are familiar with many bonds between two individuals, which starts with our first experience of attachment, our mother, who can often be our nurturer, caregiver and protector. This bond is significant for Logan Andrews, the protagonist of our story, since his mother raised him as a single parent during his adolescence. A child often can feel the strongest bond with his or her mother, since she gave birth and raised the child in her womb. Even after birth, a child will often turn to the mother for sustenance.
The bond with the father develops next, since the child and the father are separate entities. They develop a concrete relationship after birth. Many of the same qualities can be present in father-child relationship as with mother-child, except fathers have often been distant due to traditional roles. As with any relationship, complex issues can surface and the relationship between Logan and his father is built upon regret and missed opportunities. The bond isn’t severed because the hope however remote of reconnecting is there until physical death, yet it has lost its closeness a long time ago. Will the closeness ever be established between Logan and his father before he dies?
Next we move into the level of relationship that love songs, “chick flicks” and Harlequin books depend upon: The coupled relationship. But what does it mean to be in love? Is it a feeling that we desire, or is it truly an attempt to transcend our narrow self through union with another? Some people can also be hurt by fully giving their heart to another. With the resulting hurt and pain, they can in severe cases decide to close down to life.
With Logan he experienced a deep ecstatic love with Sarah McMaster. A love that would fit the definitions of soul-mates, united in mind, body and spirit. Yet Logan loses her and this becomes his painful tragedy from which he seeks escape through suicide. Still a part of him yearns to live and to love. Nexus becomes a psycho-spiritual struggle based on this inner conflict. So far we have looked at relationships between two individuals and the bond between them. Of course, relationships can also extend outward to include a group of people as part of a circle.
Besides Logan and Sarah, Nexus also has an interesting mix of other personalities. One of the most endearing characters is Muriel, a loving widow whose faith gives her certainty that she will reunite with her husband after this life. Yet, she also wants to be part of a community before she dies. As you read our novel, you will know if she fulfills her wish.
In Nexus, we wanted to show through the journey of each character the importance of empathy, which is aroused through intimately understanding another person. Each of us has experienced moments of joy, sadness, despair and even loneliness. These experiences of highs and lows give us the capacity to relate to and know the contents of another person’s heart in all its myriad emotions.
Our empathy creates the connection between us and another person and this is precisely the nexus, the connection that the book presents as having the potential to reconnect us in our relationships.
Our connection isn’t just at a human level, we can feel the same empathy for animals and all life around us. I would even say that we have an intimate relationship with Mother Earth, though living in cities that connection is not always apparent. Yet our sustenance and survival as a species comes from Gaia just as a child’s comes from his or her mother.
Logan poignantly experiences the pain of a dying fish, expressing the idea that all life is interconnected at a spiritual level. No pain or suffering is isolated, so long as compassion enters the heart. So the circle of empathy can extend outward from that between two people, to an intimate group that attempts to form a community, and ultimately to the connection between all life. In the process, of each unique relationship our heart also grows in its capacity to love and to be present with others in our shared journey through life and possibly even after. The book also hints at the dimension of our connection beyond this life. Moments of being present, especially at the end of a person’s life journey are important and we also experience them in Nexus.
The nexus found in relationships becomes a major motif throughout our novel as we explore the connection between each character and those around them, in the process highlighting compassion and heart-centered living. Through this connection, the holistic vision of the self can be realized instead of a divided self.
Awareness of Nexus is not easy and both Sarah and Logan undergo challenges. When you read Nexus, you will learn about each character’s unique journey and discover if they can overcome their challenges.
Read Full Post »
