Fearlessly Feral Living!
Fearlessly Feral Living!
Episode Two: What is Spirituality?
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Show Notes:
What is spiritual? Why would you want to be spiritual? In this episode, we discuss the meaning of spirituality in our lives and how being spiritual can lead to Fearlessly Feral Living.
Many definitions of spirituality do not do it justice. Spirituality is about being as Spirit. It is about embodying qualities such as love, peace, wisdom, power and joy.
The more we can be these qualities, the more Fearlessly Feral we can be in our lives.
Fearlessly Feral is sponsored by the Center for Spiritual Living Carson City Teaching Chapter. You can support the podcast by going to www.cslcc.org and clicking on the donate button.
You can become a member of Fearlessly Feral on Patreon at www.patreon.com/fearlesslyferal
You can join us for discussion at Fearlessly Feral, a private group on Facebook.
I'm currently serving as Interim Minister at Mountainside Center for Spiritual Living in Placerville, CA. All our services are via Zoom and you can find us on Facebook.
Welcome to Fearlessly Feral Living, broadcasting to you from the Woogie Ranch out here in the back 40 of northwestern Nevada, where I'm a half an hour away from the nearest gas station and grocery store. This is episode number two, and today we're going to talk about spirituality. Because really, that's what this podcast is all about and what it is based in. This podcast would not be in existence if it weren't for spirituality. And really, who am I kidding? I wouldn't be here doing this podcast if it weren't for spirituality. So to those of you who are asking me if this podcast is spiritual, um yes. Because spirituality is the foundation for everything that I do and everything that I be. And that brings me to the first point I want to make today. Living a fearlessly fertile life begins within each and every one of us. It has absolutely nothing to do with what religion we practice, whether we burn incense or scented candles, whether we use essential oils or Ayurvedic medicine. Spirituality has nothing to do with whether we are vegan or vegetarian or carnivore. It even has nothing to do with whether we are Republican or Democrat. So if spirituality has nothing to do with any of that, what does it have to do with? What is spirituality? And it turns out that one needs to go to some other sources than a dictionary to even approach the meaning of spirituality. I looked up the definition of spirituality in dictionary.com just to see what they provided. They said it's the quality or fact of being spiritual. What? That's not even a definition. Oh my God. So I did a Google search on the word spirituality and I got this. The quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. That's a little better, except that being spiritual does not exclude having material things. In fact, it's just the opposite. Being spiritual means we get to have more of what we want, and it means we get to do more of what we want to do. Because being spiritual means we begin from a place of being, not a place of doing. Wikipedia comes closest to what I mean when I talk about spirituality. Here's what they had to say. Traditionally, spirituality is referred to a religious process of reformation which aims to recover the original shape of man oriented at the image of God. I love that. Recover our original shape, which is oriented in the image of God. And yes, Wikipedia does mention the sacred text of the world. And yes, those do those texts do describe spirituality. But you have to kind of read underneath the surface. You have to go beyond the literal translation and meaning of things when you're reading the sacred text. Because remember, they spoke differently back in the days when those things were written. They spoke in a different language, they taught in metaphor. So let's take one of those sacred texts. So, shall we? Let's take the Bible. It's probably the well most well-known of all the sacred texts. And it says, in the beginning, we were created in the image and likeness of God. So in discerning what that actually means, we have to remember that the Bible was written in Aramaic, then it was translated to Hebrew, and then it was translated to many other languages. And then it was translated to the English version that we see today. And each version reads a bit differently. Also remember that in the time the Bible was written, metaphor was the primary method of teaching. They did not speak literally in those days. They spoke in metaphor. And words meant something different back then than they do now. So when it says we were created in the image and likeness of God, there are a lot of ramifications there. And I'm just going to throw out a few. What if in being created as the image and likeness of God, we were created with all the same qualities that we humans typically use to describe God? Things like love and compassion and wisdom and joy, peace and power. If you look up seven attributes of spirit, especially in the new thought world, you get this love, light, life, peace, power, and beauty. Now notice there's a common word there, love. It's probably the most commonly used word used to describe God. It's regularly used as a synonym for God, at least in my neck of the woods. So if we were made in the image and likeness of God, it means we were made of love. From love, as love, by love. It means that if we are really being true to ourselves, we embody love. We be love. We are loving twenty four seven. We love ourselves and we love others no matter what. We walk, breathe, eat, and speak love. To me, this is the essence of spirituality. It's not what we do, it's who we be. It's not even what we say, except that words sometimes reflect who we be or not. It depends on how in touch with ourselves that we are. But if we be love, if we express love, if we act loving as much as possible, don't you think we're going a long way towards actually showing the truth that we were created in the image and likeness of God? This then is the essence or the foundation of spirituality. Let's examine some other meanings of spirituality. Pierre Pratervan in his book The Gentle Art of Blessing says that spirituality, which derives from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath, refers to an individual's personal experience of the divine. Spirituality is about a personal experience of the divine. We feel it and we know it and we be it. And we can most easily feel that and know that and be that in our breath. This is why in meditation it's always recommended to begin with the breath. Try it. Take a deep breath. Right here and right now. Take a couple of deep breaths and notice what happens to your body when you do so. Do you feel a bit more relaxed? Do you feel a bit more at peace? Perhaps a bit more energized? Aren't those all qualities we sometimes use to describe God or spirit? Let's go back to that Wikipedia definition of spirituality. That part about recovering our original shape. That part about reformation. Reformation actually means transformation. Now here's where it gets a little tricky for some of us because some of us do not want to transform. I'm wrapping up the script here for this podcast on May the 4th, and I would be remiss if I didn't include a Star Wars quote here. Because remember, May the 4th be with you, right? So are you ready? Here's a Star Wars quote. You must unlearn what you have learned. So transformation or reformation means changing some of our old beliefs. Beliefs that when we take a good look at them, we realize they are not working very well in our lives anymore. Perhaps you have a belief or two that needs assessment. Let's take a common belief for an example that for most of us got installed when we were kids. That God in the sky belief. Start talking about being made in the image and likeness of God and what that really means, and quite a few folks put a stop to that kind of talk right here and right now. Because, as my husband likes to point out, he was taught that if he didn't believe in that God out there in the sky, he was gonna go to hell. And he doesn't want to do that. But I'd like to suggest a gentler way to look at things. What if there was an easier, softer way to consider the role of God and the definition of God? So again, I went back to some very wise people. Because I'm not the end all be all here. I draw on a lot of people. I stand on the shoulders of some absolute wonderful wise people. So here's Mary Ann Williamson. She says God means love and will means thought. Think about that when you're wondering whether or not you're doing God's will. Neil Donald Walsh says, let's be clear that being at the spiritual game means dedicated your whole mind, your whole body, your whole soul to the process of creating self in the image and likeness of God. This is the process of self-realization about which Eastern mystics have written. It is the process of salvation to which much Western theology has devoted itself. And Charles Fillmore says that it is error for us to submit our will to the control of any personality. And isn't what we do when we imagine God to be some sort of outer entity separate from us, a personality that wants things from us and for us? So what I'm getting at here might be a deal breaker for many of you. Ernest Holmes puts it in a fairly tactful way, at least I think it's tactful, you might not. He says, it has been said that we can know God only insofar as we can become God. I believe this is the heart, the foundation, the ground of all spirituality. We can know God only as much as we can become God. And that's a hell of a transformation to be thinking about, isn't it? So if you're coming up against some blocks here, breathe a bit and stick with me, please. All I'm asking you to do is be love, be light, be peace, be power, be beauty. Get your humanity out of the way and just know. Just be. Get all that low self-esteem gone. Get all that judgment gone. Get all that fear gone. Get all that what if and yeah but and all the objections and all the agitation and all the helplessness and the darkness. Get it all gone. And think about or contemplate or meditate on what your life would be like if you walked around as a being of love and light and peace and power and beauty. I bet it might just transform you. And if you transform, your life will transform. This podcast is winding up to be rather short, but I think I've said it all. I'm gonna close with a quote from a book called The Three Magic Words, written by U.S. Anderson. Now I have a little story behind this book. This book was published, I believe, in the 1950s or the 1960s. I was just a little kid at the time. And I was starting to ask questions. You know, those kinds of questions we ask when we're growing up. Who am I? What's life all about? What am I supposed to be when I grow up? What am I supposed to do when I grow up? And the adult that I was asking these questions of didn't really know how to answer those questions except to refer me to this book. And he said, I want you to read this book. And I don't want you to cheat and go to the last page first. Read the entire book. Well, of course you know what I did. I went to the last page first. And I read the three magic words. So I'm gonna. But I want to close with a quote from this book. And it's a meditation of sorts. So take a deep breath and sink in. Breathe and allow your body to simply relax onto the surface upon which you are sitting. Or if you're moving around, take a deep breath and become aware of your body and how you are moving. And if there's any areas of tension that you're holding, and you can allow them to relax with that breath. Here's the meditation. I turn away from the world about me to the world of consciousness that lies within. I shut out all memories of the past and create no images of the future. I concentrate on my being, on my awareness. I slide deep into the very recesses, to a place of utter repose. Here I perceive fact in the making, am conscious of the one being from which all beings spring. I know that this is immortal self. This is God, this is me. I am, I always was, I always will be. All men, all things, all space and time and life are here in the depths of my soul. Smaller than small, greater than great, meet and unite in me. That which I thought was ego, I never was at all, for it was a changing thing, mirroring the seasons and the tides, a thing to be born and grow. I am not a thing of time nor circumstance. I am spirit, pure, eternal, birthless, deathless, and changeless. I am patient, for I am all time. I am wise, for I contain the knowledge of all things. I know not pain, for I see there is no beginning and no end. And who suffers pain must see beginning and end. I create from my very self, I am successful, for I need only to think to achieve. I love and am beloved, for all things are myself and I am all things. I unite, I fuse, I become one with the universal subconscious mind. The vat the mask of vanity and ego I shall never wear again. I perceive the magnificent magnificent dweller at the center of my consciousness and I know it to be my very self. Time and space, shadow and substance. What matter these? For I am God. Thank you very much for listening. Fairlessly Feral Living is sponsored by the Center for Spiritual Living in Carson City, Nevada, a teaching chapter of Centers for Spiritual Living. If you wish to contribute financially to support this project, you can go to www.cslcc.org and click on the donate button. You can become a member of Fearlessly Feral on Patreon at patreon.com slash fearlessly feral. And you can join us for discussion at Fearlessly Feral on Facebook. I'm currently serving as the interim minister for Mountainside Center for Spiritual Living in Placerville, California. And I speak there every other Sunday, although currently all of our Sunday services are on Zoom. Future speaking dates for me are May 17th and May 31st, 2020. Until next time, I am knowing fearlessly feral living for you and for me. Thank you.