Spirituality and Physical Life

The idea that all life is connected and that all life is sacred makes a lot of sense to me.  Perhaps this is an innate holdover from indigenous ancestry (which we all have if you go back far enough).

I have fallen into the trap of some spiritual philosophies that espouse “transcending” the physical challenges and emotional response to said physical challenges.  I have explored the intellectual approach to spirituality and now I am done doing that.  My interest is in living it.

A few years back when I realized I was discounting the holiness of my emotions and my body, I was guided to focus on “embodying my spirit”.  I had learned that we were supposed to be going up, ascending, moving away from physical density.  This seemed to be going in the opposite direction!

Now, I understand that “descension” is where it’s at for me.  What I mean by that is bringing my spirit here into my body, into my daily, waking life, not leaving my physical body to experience my spirit.  I feel that this integrated point of view was expressed in how indigenous people originally lived.  And I feel that this awareness has been primarily lost in our world.

My brilliant Beloved, Peter, said to me a long time ago that he believes that the idea that we were ever separate from God/Spirit/Creator is actually original sin.

Physical life is fraught with challenges and suffering, so I understand the original temptation to develop a thought system that emphasizes spirit being “up there” and making it the goal of a “spiritual” life to transcend all of the messiness and pain that comes with being physical.  I have compassion for those who began this philosophy and for those who continue to follow it.  I’ve been there and really get it.

However, this dis-embodied “spirituality” has led us to negate the earth’s holiness, the sacredness of our bodies, and the important data that is transmitted by our emotional energy.

My advocacy is that we fiercely claim our physical lives as an important part of our spiritual experience, and listen with our whole hearts to the voice of our emotion.  To passionately embrace this mortal coil with all its joys and travails, pleasures and sorrows.

If we believe that we are spirits having a human experience, then doesn’t it make sense that we actually have the experience?