Dear Reader,
A change is in the air. Can you feel it?
I sure can!
We are smack in the middle of profound changes to how we conduct ourselves as human beings in this world, and in what we value and prioritize. And the process looks like – well, dreck, a lot of the time. Seriously. Change doesn’t always look pretty, especially when your viewpoint is from within the change.
Call me an optimist (which I am,) but I believe that the dramatic changes we are encountering now are leading to profound new horizons for all of us. We are seeing nothing short of evolution in action, accelerated, and done in a more conscious way than ever before in our brief history on earth.
One of the tools that will help us navigate these changes is to have a bigger vision for humanity, which I wrote about in last week’s post.
But perhaps the most important tool of all, one that will act as the guide to uncover and create that bigger vision, is a new spirituality for the twenty-first century. I say “new,” but it is already happening, most rapidly over the past several decades, and at a slower pace for thousands of years.
That’s right, we are not “on the verge,” or “moving towards” – a new spirituality is already unfolding, and we are indeed in the middle of it. This movement builds on previous exploration and growth in areas as diverse as the arts, the sciences, education, psychology, religion, business, technology and culture – to name a few. It includes advances in body, heart, mind and spirit.
And the beautiful acceleration began when discoveries in these diverse areas began to overlap, inform each other, and become more integrated. We found more connections between seemingly different bodies of knowledge, and more bonds between us as fellow humans.
More and more, we began to hear people calling themselves “spiritual but not religious,” and saying that “we are all connected.” We began to look at Mother Earth – Gaia – and our relationship to her, in a whole new way. We began to hear more vocally than ever from atheism – and yes, that’s part of the new spirituality too.
At the same time, we began to experience increasing culture clashes, more conflict between fundamental ways of living and being, and it seemed as if we were going backwards. Change can be scary, and what we have been seeing is partly a backlash that comes with growth. Another reason it looked ugly is that, thanks to technology, we were increasingly able to see it all happen in real-time, often in great detail.
A new spirituality embraces all of that.
What might it look like?
On a personal level, a new spirituality will allow each of us to look within, in a flexible but organically structured way, and align ourselves – across body, heart, mind and spirit, with consistency in our thoughts, words and actions. But align ourselves with what?
Our own true nature.
As we gain in understanding, and in our sense of connection, we will be able to more rapidly see through our own illusions and lack of awareness, into who we really are.
This process will be both individual and communal. It may well accommodate or include organized religion, but it doesn’t have to. That will just be one way the new spirituality can “look.” It may also accommodate and include atheism, for our understanding and awareness of “God” is changing and growing, every minute of every day. Articulate atheism is part of that inquiry.
A new spirituality will incorporate the best practices of meditation, to help us grow in awareness; inquiry, to help us gain insight; and inspired action, to help us accommodate our desire for growth and to participate fully in this beautiful world of ours. It will have a component based on service, so that our species can find balance with other species as well as with the planet that is our home.
A new spirituality will be grounded in oneness. We are barely scratching the surface of what that means, but it is at the heart of who we are.
And a new spirituality will facilitate the full expression of our oneness – who we really are – in respectful, compassionate, creative, vivid ways.
That, ultimately, is why we are here.
Sounds good, right?!
Am I talking about utopia? No. I am talking about something real, and grounded. A spirituality that values being present to everything, including our suffering.
Please, don’t take my word for it.
Start looking around on your own, in your own way. Build your awareness, as well as your capacity for love, truth, and beauty. Engage deeply with your own intuition, your deepest creativity, and expand your vision for what is possible.
Read, study, listen, speak, live. One of the first books that had a profound impact on my perspective about a new spirituality was “Conversations With God,” by Neale Donald Walsch. This “uncommon dialogue,” presented in such an unusual format, exploded my thinking and changed my life.
No matter what you read, or how you explore, please, do it your way – not anybody else’s. Others may point the way, or provide gems of insight, but it’s up to you to find and express your own soul.
You can do it.
We need you to do it, now more than ever.
I honor your loving heart,
John
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