When life gets messy: Remembering to return to the Source.

The pulls of life, emotion, hormones, desire make for interesting journeys. and like any journey we can get very dirty, and accumulate all kinds of mementoes, scars, get lost, confused, found, guided, and so on.

So it's important that we set out with a good compass, and always remember the way back home. Living by ethical guidelines, that include respect of self and others, and humility are good places to start for developing a compass that will always be accurate as you find your way.

Metaphysically speaking - since this really all is metaphor after all - we can return "home" to our source in an instant. But how many actu
ally remember to do so? or have the ability to tap into that power?

Our source, God, the Universe, Love-Intelligence, etc... just like our earthly homes, is not there to judge us or condemn us for how our journeys went, or the roads we took. Home is always there to welcome us back, so we can rest, wash away all the dirt that obscures our faces, eyes, ears, our bodies are made clean again. We can rest, heal and restore ourselves: Regroup, and examine the timeline of our adventure, and determine how better to set out next time, mapping out what pitfalls to look out for and avoid, and what mountains and other hurdles we may have to overcome, now that we are more familiar with the landscape of this lifetime.

So part of this journey of life seems very much to be a real tug of war between what we understand as the "spirit" and the "flesh." Sometimes in history people have mistakenly conceived of this as a part of the battle between good and evil, God and the Devil. Unfortunatley this misunderstanding has lead to tragic and traumatic events that continue to effect unnecessary suffering throughout the world even to this day. If we consider things more clearly, and permit the lenses of modern sciences to bring the truth into better focus, we can say that the traditional connotation of the word "spirit" is associated with the higher, intellectual mind. The word "flesh" is associated with the emotional, animal, instinctual, survival, pleasure-pain mind, and thus, the body. It is called a lower mind because it is a function of the paleo-mammalian cortex, which is more primitive in the evolutionary timeline of humanity. It is also "lower" because it is literally UNDERNEATH the neo-cortex, where the more abstract, self-aware, and analytical functions of human intellect reside.

Both aspects of mind have important roles to play in our lives, and the better we understand and accept these roles, the more balanced, adjusted, and happy we human beings can be.

Prayer and meditation are ancient and proven ways that human beings have used to re-connect to the source of being, in whatever form they have imagined it. These sorts of practices function very much as "spiritual" or metaphysical baths or showers. So no matter how wrong, judged, wicked, fearful, needy, or cynical you feel, these things should never be used as excuses to avoid prayer, and contact with the source. In fact, when you feel these things, these are the very reasons to go into prayer and meditation, reminders to reconnect yourself to your Home, your ultimate source and supply.

As human beings we come to understand that life is messy, and dirty. And somehow, like the lotus blossom blooming in murky, muddy water, beauty inevitably arises nonetheless. If we are going to go out onto the field to play the game, we are going to get dirty. There's no use tricking ourselves into believing we are the dirt. Or that being dirty is the WAY we are. No. It's just what happens. Showers and baths happen too. That's why spiritual practice is called a "practice." Because like practices of hygiene and healthcare, which take care of the body, spiritual practice takes care of the mind. And they only work to benefit us for a lifetime, if over our lifetime, we are constant in our efforts every day to rest, clean, resupply, and renew.