The ability to touch, to feel, to absorb, and to transmit our internal energy outwards is a deep human connection. When I think about touch and the warm feeling you get when you hug someone you hold dearly or are hugged when you're feeling low, sick, or tired, the moments of collective embrace after a successful campaign, or when you hold someone high above your shoulders because of an achievement.

Through touch, I believe we create a physically transmitted emotional connection from our consciousness to another's. When we touch another human, animal, plant, or any energy source, we can feel something inside of it or them that doesn't yet completely make sense.

At my Marae in Ōtaki, New Zealand, there is a large tree on the hill that splits the Wharenui (meeting house) and the Urupa (cemetery). It is a large and powerful tree, and I believe it has been there for over 100 years. It's said that it has special powers of healing and clarity, powers that have led many of the Tangata Whenua (people of the land) to sit, hold it, touch it, or embrace it. I have stood there before and pressed my hand on the tree, and although I can't confirm exactly what it is about it that gives me a sense of connection, there is a power that transmits and radiates within it. It's a deep connection, a connection to the earth, a connection to a universal energy.

Moments of these deep-rooted connections have a great impact on who we are and who we become, and I believe that through every moment of touch, there is an exchange of energy, an exchange that once completed, doesn't ever really leave. Is the moment of connection between 2 energies only truly established through touch?

I was speaking with my dad earlier tonight about Avatar and the concept of unity through a centralized energy source. The people of the Na’vi are all connected via a centralized energy source called - The Tree of Souls. Does this represent the universe? And through the connection of this unified source, can we establish a bond with each other that is never broken?. Once we connect on a deeper level, is there a source were all energy remains?

Obviously, touching is a choice and one of profound significance, especially between lovers. But when we allow ourselves to be touched and seek a moment of connection through touch in any sort of narrative, whether it be a parent with their child, a person with their animals, or someone simply holding a tree, do we open up a pathway of deep connection? And through that deep connection, do we establish an energy signature of said interaction? And through that energy signature, can we create a bond that helps us grow and create a moment of unity and true happiness?

Thanks,

Dean