THE PHYSICAL AND THE SPIRITUAL
Are we living in two worlds or one? There is a bigger answer to this question, for now let's just look in the mirror.
There is a great conundrum, a challenge of our humanness to wrap our heads around what is spiritual and what is physical. The reality is that it is only the stress and conflict of our lives that separate the two. Think about when we are the happiest. When stress seems to lift from us and we are in the flow of life. We do not concern our selves with what is physical and what is spiritual. They flow together. And yet when we suffer, many of us find our selves reaching for spiritual answers as if this part of us has separated from our physical existence. It is the suffering and conflict of life that cause us to separate our selves and why we create religions and churches and languages to help us navigate what appears to be a this dual part of our nature. To this, there is an extensive and separate discussion we can have about the detailed interplay between what we perceive as spiritual or physical in nature. For the purpose of this discussion we are going to address something more specific.
Evolution is only empowered when we can step into higher circles and stay in the realm of those circles. We can think higher. Do some things that represent our better self. But we will always slip back until our life has an ecosystem that supports whatever self we are evolving into. This does not come through fear not denial. It is an organic growth. We are done. Have to move upward and we are willing to take what is required to be in our new circle. Often a new circle of friends. Our highest self requires a circle and this may be our most non-negotiable circle. Why? Because our great joy and wisdom cannot compromise its wisdom. Yes, we compromise. That is not the point. All circles have humility and compromise baked in. Perhaps it is our lowest self that foolishly rebels against compromise most only to find life holding us down. Our highest self knows wise compromise. It also knows the preciousness of life and energy and it creates circles that honor that understanding. We cannot leave the world behind, but we can leave our ignorance and unnecessary vulnerability behind.
We all lean in a certain direction in terms of our dispositions. We all have dispositions in which we are wired in a certain way and this can be defined and detailed in many ways. There is very simple aspect to our wiring which has us leaning either more in the spiritual direction of life or the physical. We are all equally spiritual and physical. No one is more physical or more spiritual. IT is simply a matter of how our mind anchors in its ideal perception of itself and our expression. Some people naturally define themselves through their physical connection to things. And some people naturally define themselves by their non physical connection to things. Neither of these are right or wrong. We cannot deny our dispositions, as they hold the key to our wisest expressions, and our sense of comfort in our own skin. And yet, as life always has it, there is an art to being anything wisely. One who is naturally anchored in the non physical, what we could call spiritual nature of life, cannot deny their disposition. They must face the unique challenges and find the “recipe” to being a wise person in the physical world, Just because we stand in one place doe not mean we can deny the other. And we all know the challenges of the physical world, something we are all bound to. When we lean in the physical nature of life we have the task of allowing our selves to find joy in the material nature of things. Give our selves permission to play the game of life, so to speak, and yet not allow that to snuff out our undeniable connection to what is not physical. The non physical being the world that holds love, emotional strength (and weakness), and our connection to purpose, what helps us overcome our fear of impermanence.
Fall into what you are doing as purely as attentively as possible. This is the truest spiritual path. Find your wells, that is the place or places you go to remind your self of what is most important in life. Some people like to park them selves near wells, some dig them, some look after them, some people are wells. Some people just stop by to drink from wells and then get on with their business. Some people are better at being their own wells, while others rely more on others to be their wells. Know who you are. Listen to your calling. In this, know the direction you lean. Physical or spiritual. It defines the challenges most relevant to your life. It is impossible to be disconnected from your spiritual nature, even if it feels that way. You are never disconnected. It is only in our perception. And it is impossible to be disconnected from our physical nature. The world will not allow such a thing. We never need justify our selves when we are present. When we are engaged with the world doing our best to follow our path.
There is a spiritual sort of trap we can fall into. In our highest state of being it is easy to want to fill in all the blanks, to be all things.in a way. To check all of the boxes. And yet wisdom is defined by our ability to express wisdom through a very specific things that cannot be all things. In this a physical natured person can feel they are failing as a spiritual person and a physical person can feel they are failing or falling short as a physical person. Certainly we can can all struggle in this regard, but the notion of falling short is in the mind. Failing to do this or that, be this or that, it is a mind game. We all have a recipe to be ing our wisest self and that will always be nothing more than a piece of a puzzle. The wisest most empowered person in the world remains one piece of a giant puzzle. Still fragile, still capable of being putt in question. Are they too spiritual, disconnected from reality? Too physical, disconnected from spirit and emotion? Neither.
Lastly it must be pointed out that any of us trapped in traumatic reactions or highly influenced by fear can seek to define ourselves as something we are not. We are looking for another way. A way around fear. While many know exactly where they stand in this question, there are those who desperately want to stand n the spiritual, even though they are not wired to lean in that direction, or who desperately want to find their most profound meaning in the physical even though they are wired to do so. This is just result of fear. We fear the challenges of given direction, and so we romanticize one world over the other. As a teacher of life, I can testify all roads bring equal challenges. Different, perhaps, but they take us through the same tests in their own ways. It is not a choice. Which path do I choose. A spiritual path or physical path. That will become mind game. We are planting the seeds to separate our worlds, when our goal is to unite them. We unite them not be standing in the middle, but by leaning in the direction of our natural disposition. The grass will always be greener. Our mind will always have romantic notion of what we are missing in the physical or spiritual nature of things, and it is a lifetime of work to break down this mental nonsense and give our selves permission to just be free from comparison. Follow the path that life asks you to follow and be present. What is present whether through joy or suffering, what is paying attention and learning, this is our wisdom. In this, we give what we give and get what we get. We fall into the order of life. We are dancing in the imperfection of all things. Are we spiritual enough? As a devoutly spiritual human being, I can say this is the most pointless question of all. Are we present enough? This is the only question that matters. Bring love to what you do. If this causes you to suffer, you do not yet understand love. Never give up on this quest. It can feel like a long journey, a tireless, even cruel test at times, but know and embrace what direction you lean. Your soul will tell you when you need to find your wells and counterbalance your self. You are equal arts physical and equal parts spiritual. Now, let go and get on with being your self.