The Spiritual Side

Recently, I was asked by a friend, if I had moved to a "new ageism" in my spiritual life. At first, I was really confused by this question and after pondering for some time, I was able to answer. All the pondering gave me this mental conversation that is coming forward through this blog post. So, if this is something that peaks your interest, read on.

I grew up in church. Not just any church, but a church that has also been labeled "cult" by local newspapers. It was restrictive and oppressive in many ways, but, as a young and impressionable child, I did not know that perspective. I am thankful for that experience and for the knowledge it brought to the adult me. We read the Bible. Believed the things in the Bible that suited us and ignored those that did not. In every respect, it was blind religion.

After high school, I was really encouraged to go to a "Christian" college by my parents. I did. I went to one in another country. (that says something in and of itself.) At that institution one of the classes required was called 'Spiritual Foundations' and that term has stuck with me since. My experience of the divine began to morph and grow immensely into a very different version of understanding what spirituality even is.

As I grew through my twenties, I really still had this gnawing feeling that if I did not go to church, I was not nourishing this part of my being and so, in and out of churches and different styles I went. And all the more inner personal growth it did indeed bring me. I began to see other people from other cultures and other walks of life in a very different way and that also gave me a different vision of God.

If you want to talk about spirituality and spiritual growth, I think it is important to understand that the key factor in that is discussion is relationship with the Divine. The highest vibration in the known universe is love! The Bible says God is Love. So, if we have a really limited view of God: who and or what She is than that literally informs every other area of our lives and how we relate to others!

Honestly, we cannot grow (in a thriving manner) spiritually if we cannot first recognize that the highest vibration lives inside our being and literally every one else. That means, every human, every animal, every tree, all the earth, all the soil, all the leaves and also then the lowest vibration is contained within every aspect of the known and unknown world. For me, recognizing that I am the sinner and the saint and so is everyone else has been so pivotal in my understanding of spiritual growth.

Relating to the Transcendent, starts with relation in and with ourselves. This is why all religions allude to this and many believe, God will live inside a human if they invite Him in. And, as per my current understanding, God thrives under that circumstance (the personal invitation), but still lives (or perhaps exists is more accurate) inside all the (un)/known universe.

In many indigenous cultures, they greet one another as their other self. I feel this practice alone can help us to understand this deeper. To greet the flower as our other self; to greet the baby as our other self; to greet the waters as our other self; to greet the car as our other self and to comprehend that God is and moves and breathes through all aspects of the universe.

This understanding has incredibly enhanced my perceptions of God and what it means to be spiritual. I love the moon and the stars and I honor them for the place they hold in my universe; but I don't worship them. I love the earth and her blessed patience with humanity; but I don't worship her. I am thankful for the four corners of the earth and the four winds of the earth (this term is in the Bible); but I don't worship them. I love my husband, my children and my family and am thankful for the aspects of myself they reveal inside of me; but I don't worship them for that. What I worship is the Life Force, the Highest Expression, the Divine of all that is, that lives moves and breathes through all "other selves" around me.

This for me is spiritual growth and living a spiritual life. Being open to seeing and revealing all parts of me to myself for a deeper expansion of my soul's journey and perfect expression. Not hiding from any aspects; even the ones I do not like. The haters, first must be loved inside of me. The sinners, I am one, must first be loved inside of me. These are all the teachings of Jesus! They are also found in many other's teachings. The important part (that is highly stressed in the Bible), is not to get stuck on the vessel, but rather perceive the message and discern the energy to know who/what to participate with and when/if it is right for you to integrate into your being-ness.

Many "followers" of Jesus, would not have no common ground with the person they follow, simply because they actually adhere to a religious tradition and not the open hearted, radical living words that Jesus actually created His life from and by. He was practical and dirty and he was not neat and certainly did not fit into any structure of His time. And, He would not fit into a church now either; because His Kingdom reaches beyond that scope; it's out of this world! 

So many ponderings have sprung forth from the curious and raw question I was asked and these are valuable conversations. In fact, this is part of spiritual growth and our spiritual foundations are ever being built and expanded upon. 

For many 'A course in miracles' has revolutionized their understanding of Jesus and while I have not made it through them all, I witness the healing work that it has ripple-effect-ministered out into the world! 

The spiritual side of all of us, lives, but it is about how we tend it.

For some of us tending to our spiritual growth may indeed look like going to a church, sharing with a small group, praying through  beads, chanting, singing, dancing, creating, mothering, gardening, kayaking, teaching, picking up trash, sitting with the homeless, cooking for and eating with the elderly who has lost motor control and so much more. It is not one set way not even for one person. It should morph and grow and change forms constantly, as the Spirit leads. If we want to be Spirit filled, then it is a wonderful idea to release all pre-conceived EVERYTHING. Because Spirit is free and moves as She pleases. One last thing I feel vital to share regarding our spiritual life is that if you are not consciously tending to it, than you are neglecting the most sensitive and life expanding part of your being.

The very first person the Bible refers to as being "filled by the Spirit" was a craftsman, an artist, a creative. Not Moses or Abraham or.... someone who was able to turn off the lkasj&z0 and be filled with the Spirit. In order to be filled with the Spirit and to be one with the Spirit, I have to be Patricia-less. Meaning, I have to let go of all the things I have learned along this journey that stuff me up and mute my full expression and be more Love (Ahava - אהבה), more Light, more Fire (Bul - 불). 

And that is the Spiritual Side of me. The most sensitive and largest part of my being; the part I want to live from, breath from and move from. The part of me I want to inform all aspects of relating to my self and others. I want to be so Ahava Bul that it is freeing to others and they are able to release a wee bit more of the lies, conditioning and limiting beliefs that hold their spiritual being captive. 

Do I adhere to the Christianity I was shown as an impressionable youth? No. Do I follow any certain person's teachings to a "t"? No. But what I do aim for is to be one with the Spirit in every way I possess my being. To be in constant flow with the Divine flowing in and moving through me; expanding my full auric bodies one breath at a time.