Summer Epiphany

I’ve been aspiring to some vague, spiritual place, ‘out there’ where I am a more enlightened person, removed from the worries, frustrations, desires, and attributes of my current life. I had been treating this life as something to overcome and rise above into a ‘spiritual’ life. I had an ill-defined vision, but it would still embody something of this life before it ended (and the real spiritual journey restarted). In the intervening time I would enjoy an unprecedented quality of life and thought, as well as have every part of my existence enhanced because of my ‘spirituality.’

If I could become more spiritual, I would behave differently. I would not be concerned about physical things, nor grieve for past relationships or abilities or possessions, nor quest for new things of a physical nature in some future time, nor new skills or insights. I would be above all of that.

In my newfound spirituality I would love, forgive, and trust more. I would be more thankful, compassionate, risk taking, giving, nurturing, and tolerant. My strengths would include healing, intimacy, openness, faith, meditation, intuition, and awareness. The real ‘me’ would come through replacing the ‘me’ of today that seems to have shortfalls in all these areas.

The litany about being a ‘spiritual being having a human experience’ meant to me that the former was removed and divorced from the latter. The spiritual and human existences were unconnected, at least most of the time. I made up a story that struggles and trials in this life helped us reconnect to our spiritual being, until made the ultimate reconnection upon our transition back to Nature. Our soul grew and evolved because of our human existence, and hopefully those experiences carried us (me!) towards that spiritual existence I quested after.

My epiphany arrived when I realized that I could be both – RIGHT NOW! The separation is nonexistent, although I could deny the spiritual side of my nature. There’s no waiting, struggling, studying, research, or obstacle course I have to go through to get to where I want to be. I’m there now!

I am the physical human – with all attendant limitations, attitudes, desires, and conditions, yet I am also and simultaneously the spiritual person I want to be. The two are fully integrated and inseparable. I am where and how I should be. There is no human world to overcome.
I need to accept that I have BOTH a human side and a spiritual side – that’s a key part of my spiritual journey. For starters, I need to stop fighting life and wishing I were somewhere or somewhen else.

Being in the Now, as Tolle wrote about, isn’t about rising above this life to more elevated spiritual planes. It’s about going through this life as it is and seeing both the human and spiritual components. He talks about ‘awareness,’ and for me that seemed to be synonymous with ‘alertness.’ I think I get it now: awareness is about seeing both components to each moment – the human component along with the spiritual part.

As for all those skills and aptitudes I think need work for me to be a better person – spiritually. Well, I can keep working on them, but I don’t need to improve them in order to be spiritual. I’m there now.

Namasté

This website is to stimulate your spiritual thinking in the hope that it will contribute to your spiritual growth. The author invites your comments and critiques by reply e-mail to bob@futuremoons.com.