What Happens when we Develop a Spiritual Connection?
There’s a lot of buzz these days in social media and society at large about meditation, breathwork, yoga, shamanism, and any number of other categories previously titled “alternative”. Even Lil’ Jon is coming out with a meditation album (hah!).
Our modern society has become so disconnected from the earth, “God”, and spirit that I’m not surprised at the rising desire to connect with the spiritual world. Consumerism, social media impressions, programming, advertising, and the modern work culture have left people feeling more hopeless and less purposeful than ever.
Thankfully, this resurging interest in the unseen realms has led to an explosive abundance of resources for humans to find ways of connecting to the deeper parts of themselves that, in the past, were common practice for all ancient cultures. I’m not talking about modern iterations of organized religions like Catholicism and Christianity. I’m talking about the personal connection to the primal layers of our being, the birthright each of us has to be connected to our source.
Aldous Huxley, in his book The Perennial Philosophy calls it ‘The Ground of All Being.’ Whether you call it God, Allah, Krishna, Jehovah, The Universe, Spirit, Source or any of the other names we humans have given the un-nameable – the fact is, most modern humans feel a deep void, something missing from their lives that can scarcely be put into words.
To quote Aldous, “We can only love what we know, and we can never know completely what we do not love.” Having blind faith that there is a Spiritual Existence is a much different understanding than having an experience of Spirit. Once a person has had the experience of Spirit, there can be no denying the fact that it exists and that it is indeed the ethereal ground upon which existence is built.
And spirit is not something outside of us, outside of the physical world in which we live. Physicality is indeed only one side of the coin (the densest layer of energy). Science has proven that there are wavelengths of light that we cannot see or even quantify without special instruments. Before we were able to identify them, they simply didn’t exist for us.
Our world is complex, subtly layered in intricate ways that humans have been trying to understand since the beginning of time. The other side – the unseen, the hidden, the esoteric – compels us to seek and search for meaning. It inspires us to look behind the veil.
When we have an experience of something “mystical”, unexplainable yet we know it happened, it changes the way we look at reality to such a degree that there is no denying the existence of something beyond, something intelligent, something loving and wise beyond comprehension. At some point in our lives, I would wager that we all question our existence – the “why” of everything.
The seemingly cryptic first line of the Tao te Ching states: “The Tao that can be told of is not the Absolute Tao”. What does this mean? It means God cannot be conceived of or spoken of absolutely and definitively by anyone ever, because it is so far beyond our conception that any attempt at doing so will fall short of what It actually is. It also means all the words I’m writing in this moment are not the God I’m trying to describe – they only point to It.
Lao Tzu started the Tao te Ching with this axiom to basically say “Everything I say to describe God is not God. Do not confuse my words with the real thing. Find out for yourself.” The work could be complete with just this first sentence.
How can we know the unknowable? Well, by this logic, we can’t. But what we can do is find ways to tap into aspects of it, to feel it in our own lives. We can connect to this unknowable force that scaffolds the universe and we don’t have to understand it. We are, in fact, never disconnected from this source. It is within us and all around us. It is everything, including the good, bad, and ugly. Without yin, there can be no yang.
I do not claim to know the sacred unknowable, but I have had experiences of connecting to it that have left me with no doubt that it exists. And hey, even if it doesn’t exist (Taoists might say nothing really exists, a confusing viewpoint I explore on a daily basis) it makes life much more interesting to believe that it does. Our lives are defined by and experienced through our beliefs.
Now I feel the connection everyday of my life, and the magic moments that result from this way of living have given me gifts I never knew existed. It gives me peace, a relaxed state of being, an effortless effort to continue on day by day because I am here.
And that’s why I’ve decided to do what I do as a Spiritual Development Coach. Connecting to this source of being has given my life deeper meaning and greater health. It can happen in an instant, but more often than not, it happens over time, little by little. It ALWAYS happens with the help, guidance, and support of others.
Each experience that gives one a taste of the divine, a glimpse into the unknown, adds to the understanding that this existence is not just a random event, not a meaningless pool of chaos that somehow resulted in the complex expressions of life – it is a gift.
When you know, love, and feel this connection, the void that was previously there simply dissolves. Life has a flavor of purpose, a fragrance of divine meaning, and everything that goes into the makeup of our individual lives – the challenges, sorrows, triumphs, joys, experiences – all become much easier to handle.
May you find this spiritual connection in your own life and may it trickle out into the lives of all those around you. If existence is infinite, then there’s no hurry. You are already that which you seek – all that is needed is to start looking inward.