It’s about time. The changes occurring in the Arab world, the cradle of human civilization, are exciting to say the least. Thousands of years of human conflict and bloodshed…thousands of years of abandonment of how connected we are…thousands of years of fighting over spirituality. This holy ground has seen so many battles! I can only imagine what the rulers of old must be saying on their heavenly cloud above earth. Except that’s not how it works.
I have seen in my 45 years on this planet the most horrific things done in the name of Godde/Spirit, and have read my history books, too. Spirit seems conspicuously absent in the human psyche when we can launch massive campaigns to murder people who don’t fit our description of “acceptable”. The divorce of Spirit from earth in the human psyche occurred a long time ago, when the feminine was consciously oppressed. This idea that Spirit lives elsewhere is a purely patriarchal invention.
It was very confusing to me as a 4 year old attending a Methodist preschool in Charlotte North Carolina when I was told that God lived in Heaven. I had already experienced Godde in my sandbox, in the wind, in the sun and the trees. I had already heard the sweet voice of angels, assuring me and encouraging me to “hang in there” for the road ahead. I had already experienced the triumph of good over evil when I was protected by archangels from an attack.
But I wanted to be a good girl; I wanted to be an obedient student. Surely these elder teachers could share something wonderful about Godde that I didn’t know yet! I heard them say that God was a judging, vengeful, mysterious force that we could only connect with in church. I was taught that I should be afraid of God, that God even killed his own precious son. I felt sorry for Jesus…he seemed a hapless victim in his father’s hands, much like I was at home. Was God like my father? Would I be nailed on a cross someday?
And then, my parents took me to church. I think it must have been my first time. I was excited and expectant. I was going to see God today! Apparently I took a good look around, and in a quiet moment of prayer, said very loud, “SO WHERE’S GOD?” I was not taken back. Perhaps word got back to my teachers; I seem to remember feeling judged by them after my outburst.
Well, thank goodness for an independent streak! My stubborn hold on those early experiences of Spirit have served me well in my life. I experience Spirit daily, in my waking life, and so I know that Godde lives here on Earth…as well as within the heavens, the cosmos, the infinite multi-universes. I know Spirit is everywhere, and there is no place that Spirit is not. And Spirit is in my body, just as Spirit is in yours.
The more we get in touch with Spirit being a part of our daily lives, the more we will understand how precious each other are. And the more we feel Spirit in our presence, the more we will feel it in others. The embodiment of Spirit is what I’m after. Heaven on Earth is what I want. Nothing less will do.
If I were to start a church, Embodied Spirituality would be my doctrine. The body (and the earth) as sacred and an expression of God’s love would be my prayer.
I feel that recognition of Spirit on earth is what is occurring in the Arab world…that people are remembering their connection to one another and to something bigger than themselves. They are challenging what is not life affirming. May the wave of remembrance that Spirit is HERE, NOW continue! May we all remember that Spirit has never left except within our own beliefs.
I predict we will see more stunning changes in our world this year, more evidence of a sea change occurring in the collective human psyche. The old ways are coming down, the tide of the feminine awareness of Connectivity is coming. Anything that says we are separate from Godde will go the way of crumbling regimes. It is time for us to rejoin the human with Spirit, in our hearts where it has been all along.
