There is a play of light against the back wall that seems to have been arrested in the midst of some kaleidoscopic dance. Do you see it? Is it reflected from windows across the street, out of view? Is it shining through the clouds as a rainy day suddenly clears? We don't know where it comes from, but it illuminates and fills the image as a whole.

Then notice the wall itself. It is not a flat, uniform gray. It is divided into great blocks of marble, each of which has its own grain, waves of light and dark captured forever though the magic of geology. Whoever built the wall was not oblivious to the phenomenon. Notice that the grain is matched by row, running first one way and then the other, an undulating texture of rich complexity.

Finally, notice the one unusual block at the right edge of the photograph. It is much lighter than the others. Once you see it, you realize how much it stands out against the deeper gray of the surrounding stone, providing an interesting contrast in a section of the image that would otherwise seem "empty."

Once you notice these "background" elements, you realize how integral they are to the image as a whole. And this -- yep, you guessed it -- is a primary lesson of mutualistic symbiosis. Nothing exists in a vacuum. No matter how much attention we pay to any single element, no matter how profoundly we ignore the "background" elements of our lives, all are connected in an integral living system.

All human beings, all families, all organizations, all nations, all species, all continents, all oceans... all have a role to play, and all contribute to the integrity of the whole. So spend some time this holiday season exploring the background of your life. You might discover a depth and richness there that you never noticed before.