Sometimes an idea or a concept just grabs you. You read it or you hear about it, and it just makes total sense to the essence of your life..

That was my experience with Alfred North Whitehead. Learning about this 20th-century mathematician and philosopher in seminary introduced me to his foundational concept that the world is composed of deeply interdependent processes and events rather than mostly independent material things or objects.

Northhead posits that we are not beings. Rather, we, our lives and our bodies, indeed everything in the universe, are made up of a series of becomings.

I illustrate this when talking about it by holding my left hand in a sideways "v," using my thumb and index finger. In that vortex are all of the possibilities of the moment. You, and all entities, choose one (it becomes concretized, a Whitehead word) and a new vortex emerges with the new possibilities of the moment.

This is the universe incarnating itself as one with each creative act.

This concept, that our lives are a series of becomings, helps me when second-guessing myself or thinking that the moment ought to be different than it is. 

Such is the power of education and our continuing journey of self-discovery.

For more about how Whitehead's work lives in today's world, check out the Center for Process Studies.