Thursday, May 24, 2007

Grounding The Storm

Sept. 29/03 – Essay for Psychology of Religion Class with Dr. Paul Antrobus

Throughout my life, Spirit has been my only anchor. Whenever I thought I had solid ground in this earthly experience, Spirit would sweep through my perceptual and physical experience with Storm energy. In the exact moment of destruction, Spirit would create a new paradigm of experience for me to explore. I have always been guided by the crystal clarity of spiritual understanding. Instruction is found in every person I relate with, with every book I read, with every animal or natural phenomenon I dare to accept into my beingness. Challenged by the accountability of my inner spiritual guides I take action to co-create my life. If the action I take is wrong, Storm sweeps through my life to lead me further along my path. If the action is correct for my path, Storm sweeps through my life to evolve me further. There is no right or wrong I begin to understand; there is only the experience of Spirit manifested in the ebb and flow of my existence.

In the rare times that my inner stillness meets my actions, I feel Spirit's full power flowing through me. When I am attached to my physical and emotional experiences I feel Spirit's power pulling me to find the faith to lead me back to my stillness. When I feel lost in the mental creations of myself and the world, Spirit brings me the experience of my own judgements in order to see every aspect of creation that is from within myself. I am created by Spirit's Storm energy and I am that very same energy.

Like a tornado sweeping through the prairies, I ground myself to the physical paths of different religious experiences as the chaos of Storm sweeps over me. In the center of peace, Storm shows me the different methods allowed to humans to experience this Energy of Spirit. While in the eye of Storm, my intent leads me to a direct experience of Spirit in a specific religion's form. As I begin to relate closely with the form, the rest of the Storm's cycle moves over me and sweeps me to remember that Spirit has no one path, but many to explore and acknowledge.

So I now trust the path that Storms through my life. I have now come to learn that Spirit's path for me is Process – I will never be able to find security in any one path or other man-made ideology. I am always challenged to keep my human sanity within my human body. To do this I use the rocks and crystals of the mineral kingdom. Recently, the plant kingdom has opened up and helped me stay within my physical body. Yet, even these are only tools Spirit allows me to anchor my mental need for security on.

Meaning is everywhere and in everything, showing me the relationships I need to be in. My purpose in life is to bridge the diverse understandings of Spirit and challenge people to move beyond their limitations created in judgements and recognize the Process within their lives. Our wholeness as human beings is already achieved and only needs to be uncovered; covered up by the ideologies and judgements and belief systems of man-made securities, the wholeness of ourselves is waiting to be rediscovered. As children we knew wholeness naturally. As we grew up we became schooled into the illusions of differences and now must unlearn these teachings and reconnect to the unity of this world and its many dimensions. Returning to relationships, we as the human race can then continue further into experiencing Spirit as a whole.

The best way I can explain in linguistic terms the nature of my ground is the no-ground of Storm. A storm is made up of energy that then reacts with matter. Spirit moves through the four elements – earth, air, fire, water – and using a combination of two or more of these elements creates the experiences that connect the moments together into a whole time-line within the space of our human understanding. All is Spirit; even in experiences where humans have judged the experiences to be separate of Spirit, Spirit exists.

My challenges in life are not finding my ground in spiritual experiences, but how to find within myself a way to operate in the everyday world of illusion. Many times I feel that I have to lie to myself in order to relate to the world. The openness and communion of Spirit leaves me alienated from acting efficiently within the everyday world at times. Even the language we use is inefficient to convey the spiritual processes of living. Yet, trusting that everything is perfect from a spiritual perspective, I stay centered within myself and strive to find the balance of my spiritual guidance and direction with the detached observances of my self-perceptual illusionary world I must operate in.

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