Honor Your Spirit

I humbly submit that even those who might question the idea of a Creator, will cop to the fact that we all have something inside us that "knows itself" without any proof of it's existence. Perhaps the word spirit is too laden with spiritual connotations. One old friend, who is normally really cool, loses his composure and leaves the room saying in a booming voice, "That's Metaphysics", waving his hand dismissively as he goes, whenever talk goes to the very idea of spirituality. I can't say that the idea of spirit will ever please everybody, but I do believe that we are all spiritual creatures. Unlike the creatures of the forest and plains, who just are, we humans seem preoccupied with things that are not food, frolic, fornication, or shelter from the storm. We dialog with one another and ourselves about the most arcane and mundane matters as to be distracted from our immediate surroundings. Our great love for making meaning, even if there is none there to begin with, borders on pathological. Perhaps this idea of spirit too is fictional, but I for one hope not.

In my own heart, I know of my own routes to pure spirit, and have trod the path to it's light as well as it's darker side. The festering and crippled side that revolves around illusion, artificiality and destruction as well as the pure and enlightened portion that resonates with creativity, joyous delight and compassion. My call is for each and every one of us to get in touch with our spirit, explore it and learn the lessons that it has for us. Having done this, we will be better poised to make positive changes in the world around us that will reshape forever the course and direction of humanity as well as the direction of the earth, her creatures and the living systems that find themselves along for the ride beside the human race on this planet.

When you are in contact with your spirit, the greatest honor you can give it and in turn to the creator, by whatever name you call it, is to listen carefully to what it says to you. Listen carefully to what your spirit says is wrong with the current state of affairs. Whatever it may be that you feel is wrong, is but a call to attend to it's solution. For instance, when the senseless suffering of the poor and homeless motivate you, perhaps you would put your efforts into volunteerism at a shelter or food pantry. If family violence seems most tragic, work to educate people about why power and control are the antithesis of love and compassion, what makes this so and why our culture seems hell-bent on destruction. If unnecessary wars make you feel the most uncomfortable, teach peace.

In my own case, the tragic loss of forests and topsoil, as well as the tremendous loss of climactic stability led me to undertake a process that created a not-for-profit that plants trees and educates people on a host of ecological issues. We each inhabit a vessel that can take on challenges of our own choosing. When we make decisions that line up with our heart, and spirit, we are far more likely to create the world that our creator wanted us to inhabit.

Blessed Be and Namaste'