There is a part of you that cannot die.
Nothing can hurt it.
It can’t hurt anyone else.
That part of you is incapable of judging.
It’s unable to get riled up.
It purely is a witness to the world around it.
That part of you accepts life on life’s terms.
That part of you is connected to everything else in the universe.
It is part of the universal consciousness that just witnesses life as it unfolds.
It’s not happy, sad, or in favor of anyone or anything. It has no ties to the outcome of a single thing. It just is.
Content. Accepting. Peaceful
That part is your Everlasting Soul.
It sounds like a creepy church thing (to me). But when I take a step back from those words I personally associate with creepy or religious, I realize that the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, Hinduism, Buddhism…. all say the same thing. All say we have a soul, spirit, or any word you care to use.
All these teachings tell us our soul is imperishable and connected to everything else in the universe.
All these teachings tell us that we can tap into this part of ourselves through prayer, meditation or other forms of contemplation.
All these teachings promise that connecting with the deeper source helps us to tune out the noise of the outside world and experience bliss through complete peace.
We all have access to this peace at any moment. Sometimes we find it by accident while walking, looking at a beautiful picture, listening to a piece of music, watching the birds, connecting with another human, or even in a yoga class. There is no right or wrong way to commune with Spirit.
What if we saw these great teachings as the allegories they were meant to be and listened to the common themes?
There are so many common themes in these texts. The focus here is on the commonality of spirit and that all the scriptures tell us that our real essence(spirit/soul) simply cannot die. That part lives on past our body’s expiration.
Consider this very special gift, that is not a secret, that every religion, mystic, sage, philosopher, and wisdom teacher has been telling us since the beginning of time.
This all sounds lovely, but how is it applied to real life? What does it mean?
Last week in the yoga classes I taught, I used a quote from the 13th century Sufi poet Rumi that says:
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words, listen” ~Rumi
I hear from so many people that they do not feel connected to a higher power and that something within them longs for it. They look in churches, synagogues, and books for the answers because it is where we have been taught to look.
Personally I am not sure any religion has yet to nail down the perfect prescription for connecting to our souls, but they all have certainly tried and each in its own way has advised us to look no further than within.
“What you seek is seeking you” ~Rumi
I can sometimes find this inner peace. In my personal experience I am unable to connect to the spirituality I’m seeking through my brain on an intellectual level. I connect when I shut down thinking and just allow myself to be.
These connections can take place through prayer or meditation. The key is to turn off the non-stop chatterbox voice in your head. The voice that is generated from the brain.
Your spirit is not the voice you hear. The voice is not the real you, the real you is what is hearing that voice. Your spirit is observing the internal noise of that voice and the external world around you.
You are not the angel or devil on your shoulder who are arguing back and forth, justifying a decision or trying to be right. You are the witness listening to these internal dialogues.
The witness is not biased one way or another. The witness just exists. Without judgement or attachment to any kind of an outcome.
We should tap in to recharge, gain perspective, and refuel. Feel the bliss and know that our essence will always be ok.
Does this mean we just sit by and watch the wheels go round and round? I don’t know, but I do not think so.
Religion and spiritual teachings ask us to tap in AND to use our human skills and abilities to do good things in the world.
We are not meant to sit completely idle.
We need to get off the mat or prie-dieu and do our work in the world.
That work is to make the world a better place than we found it. The work involves using our skills and abilities to influence what we can around us in positive ways. The Serenity Prayer is a perfect guide to keeping that balance of our circle of control, our circle of influence, where those circles end and where there is little or no control.
Do not be discouraged by what you cannot change. Be the change you want to see.
The strength to accept what can’t be changed,
The courage to change what you can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
When this is difficult to do, you can always tune back within:
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words, listen” ~Rumi
And you know what else? This spirit within me – sees that same Spirit within you!
Or as modern day multi-media artist Morgan Harper Nichols writes: “The same light you see in others is shining within you, too.”
It’s easier to recognize the spirit in others when you can access it yourself.
Namaste
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