The Pagan Experience - WK 1- October 5: Spirit. Kicking off the Month of opening veils (Beltane and Samhain) and the mystery of the Divine….How do you define “Spirit” ?
Spirit is the fifth element, that which binds all together. Spirit is energy. Spirit is vibration. Spirit is sound. Spirit is consciousness. Spirit is what is left when we leave the physical body behind.
In my view, Spirit is mostly the same as the Divine. It is the universal energy, the life-force that forms all beings. We call this energy ki, chi, or prana - this is also Spirit. The Divine is part of this energy too, but I also see the individual deities as faces or archetypes coming out of the universal spirit.
I like to use the metaphor of the ocean. All the universe is an ocean of energy. We are droplets of water in that ocean. We are individual, yet connected. The Gods too, are a part of this. Just as the ocean can present a calm face, it can also rise up in waves or waterspouts to show its power. The ocean is mind-bogglingly large. It is mysterious and deep. We can't fully grasp it. No power in the world is greater than the ocean. It is eternal.
This is the mystery of Spirit. Spirit is everything, but we cannot comprehend it with our minds. It is too big, too amorphous, too powerful. We can never fit Spirit into a box, but confronting it directly can burn us out like an overloaded circuit. Instead, we give it faces - our beloved Gods and Goddesses. We cloak it in symbolism. We write whole belief systems based on our encounters with it. Humanity must reduce Spirit in order to relate to it.
Spirit is the Great Mystery - limitless, infinite and eternal. Spirit is.
In my view, Spirit is mostly the same as the Divine. It is the universal energy, the life-force that forms all beings. We call this energy ki, chi, or prana - this is also Spirit. The Divine is part of this energy too, but I also see the individual deities as faces or archetypes coming out of the universal spirit.
I like to use the metaphor of the ocean. All the universe is an ocean of energy. We are droplets of water in that ocean. We are individual, yet connected. The Gods too, are a part of this. Just as the ocean can present a calm face, it can also rise up in waves or waterspouts to show its power. The ocean is mind-bogglingly large. It is mysterious and deep. We can't fully grasp it. No power in the world is greater than the ocean. It is eternal.
This is the mystery of Spirit. Spirit is everything, but we cannot comprehend it with our minds. It is too big, too amorphous, too powerful. We can never fit Spirit into a box, but confronting it directly can burn us out like an overloaded circuit. Instead, we give it faces - our beloved Gods and Goddesses. We cloak it in symbolism. We write whole belief systems based on our encounters with it. Humanity must reduce Spirit in order to relate to it.
Spirit is the Great Mystery - limitless, infinite and eternal. Spirit is.
"The
reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it
gives life to others as it transforms."
-Lao Tzu
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