Spiritual Nurture
C. Allie Knowlton, MSW, LCSW, DCSW
Our national focus on fitness and health is finally reaching the mainstream. This is apparent by the increasing number of people of all ages that are signing up to participate in triathlons. In addition, health food stores of all sizes are springing up in rural areas, as well as in the cities. These offer positive evidence of the population becoming more aware of the choices it takes to develop a better quality of life. Perhaps it is also evidence of people looking for ways to manage the intensifying stress of daily life. While these are beneficial, I would like to add the importance of assessing how we nurture ourselves spiritually.
In 2001, my partner and I presented at the Conference of Science and Consciousness in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both of us refer to this conference as a source of our spiritual nurturance. While we were there to present, we also attended many wonderful workshops. One of these was with Dr. Amit Goswami, a theoretical nuclear physicist who had an amazing ability to describe complex ideas in a “listener friendly” way. His presentation was remarkable for many reasons. His father was a Hindu guru in India, and so he was able to bring knowledge of mystical traditions together with his love for scientific exploration in a rich and meaningful manner. (He accomplished this in a remarkably old fashioned way! While most other presenters were using multi media slides, Goswami made his powerful presentation using an overhead projector and tattered transparencies.)
In his new book, God is Not Dead (see review in this issue), he writes: "But can we put God/consciousness back into our systems of knowledge to change our behavior and societies in time to avoid the catastrophes that are threatening us? Yes, we can. I will tell you my hypothesis: even those influences that have led us today to near cataclysm are part of a purposive movement of consciousness that is already under way to avert these catastrophes. Meanwhile the looming catastrophes are trying to tell us something important; this we have to decipher....”
Gaswami writes that, “The real questions are these: Why does the world appear to be separate from us? What does the fact that we get lost in this separateness from the universe and each other do to us and to the human condition? Is there any way to go beyond this dynamic of separation?” He continues, " In the new science, we find that the world is here because of us and that we are here because of the world... The separation dynamic is one of mutual creation, our prerequisite for play in manifestation. When we creatively comprehend this, the separation dynamic loses its hold on us. The story of the universe is our story. When we understand ourselves, our consciousness, we also understand our relationship with the universe and with God, and the separation becomes a portent for play. What happens to this sense of manifest play when the separateness is seen as illusory? I hope you are curious to find out. I hope you are tired of the old play of separateness, which has given us the nightmares of terrorism, energy crisis, global warming, and the possibility of nuclear war. I hope you are ready to explore the potential of a science within consciousness, as well as the potential of waking up to subtler levels of consciousness. I hope you are ready to appreciate the importance of the scientific rediscovery of God.”
Even if the invitation to look at the scientific rediscovery of God is uncomfortable for you, as you read this article consider it an invitation to look into your own life. Examine ways you can move out of your experience of separation. This is critically important at this time in the history of our planet. Gaswami calls for “a new kind of activism with a new adage: you cannot change the world, but you can change yourself, always with the perspective of COLLECTIVE WORLD EVOLUTION in mind. This is what I call QUANTUM ACTIVISM, in which we work on transforming ourselves using the power of the new physics, but while paying attention to the evolutionary movement of consciousness as a whole, always trying to heed its needs.”
My sense is that we cannot look at the larger picture of how to heal the conditions of our times without identifying some consistent source of inner renewal or spiritual nurture to sustain us. How do we find this resource when time seems at a premium? Recently I had a conversation with a woman who juggles being a mother of two small children with her career. She shared that she was longing to find time to pay attention to her spiritual life. She apologized to herself as she shared that her very brief and precious personal time was spent searching the web for resources to support more quality time with her children. As we talked she had the insight that since she very much wanted her children to have spiritual experiences, she thought that she could search for ways which would nurture all of them spiritually. She went on to say that they had already shared in the excitement of creating a new compost bin for their garden. They were participating in the cycle of growing things, enjoying eating food they grew and seeing the circle of energy. Such a common daily event which connects a person to the source of food and the earth can be seen as spiritual in that it is a form of connectedness, a healing from separation and so a form of spiritual nurture.
In another conversation, a woman’s face revealed the joy she experiences when eating green beans she has spent so many hours tending. She nurtured them into fulness and now they are rewarding her in the time honored cycle of sacred reciprocity. She is nurtured by the very life-forms she has chosen to nurture. In the same vein, one of our colleagues at work is thrilled to be given a freezer for a wedding present to preserve what he has spent hours cultivating in a community garden. He has an especially good understanding of the cycles of nuturance. His occupation involves educating families how eating the right kinds of foods can make significant differences in behaviors and moods. Nurturing food is another way to support the transition from separation to harmony in a practical way. Harmony in itself is nurturing!
Photo: Allie Knowlton
Another easily accessible way we can increase our spiritual nurturance is to call upon our memories of those times when we have experienced awe, a celebration of life, or a connection with the natural world. Recently, I found my mind going back to a time we visited British Columbia. My memory lead me up a winding, slippery moss path, to a rickety and slick bridge made of branches over a roaring river swollen with recent rain. It was still misting as I rounded a curve and found myself facing many large stones with carvings in them that clearly had been carved hundreds of years ago in this remote forest. The variety of the carvings confirmed that the travelers were from wide spread geographical locations, beyond the boundaries of British Columbia. Our guides were two brothers from the Nuhalk tribe, a Northwest coast tribe who call themselves People of the First Nation. This was one of their tribe's sacred locations which they shared with very few people. This was partly because the path was treacherous and partly because they were careful to share this part of the verdant forest with only those that could understand the spiritual significance of the place. While there, I felt the ancient connection to tribal people from other countries who had been ceremonially brought there and had added there own petroglyphs to the rocks. It was as if this location was connected to all the places and ancestors of all the visitors' homelands. Through the earth, all were connected to the One Source. This profound experience was etched into the stone.
As the rain continued to fall steadily, our native guides drummed and sang to us the story of the creation of their people. I could feel their connection to their creation story, to the land, to their unique heritage. They were excited to invite us to an event that would take place on the weekend. For the first time, priests and Canadian government officials were coming to meet with their people in a formal ceremony to ask forgiveness for past abuses. There were tears in the brothers' eyes because as soon as the date for this ceremony was finally established, the elders began to share their abuse stories. Many of the stories had never before been told. Even as our Native Americans in the U.S.A. were stripped of their cultures and ancestral land connections, abused and forgotten, so too had those in Canada. However, our guides said it was now time to come together to remember our mutual responsibility to our Earth. Back at the lodge in the evening, these brothers and others from the Nuhalk tribe arrived to perform their sacred dances. The act of their dancing was--for themselves, their children who participated and for us as witnesses--a rememberance of our common love for and desire to preserve our Earth. Furthermore, there was a recognition of the power of relationships with one another and the earth.
We have found in our work, that everyone has some memory of a time when they experienced awe in the natural world. It might be a connection with a tree, a frog, a whale, a piece of land, a valley, a river, a cave, a moss-covered space inhabited by faerie beings, a rainbow or some other moment with great meaning. Such a connection with another often stimulates a growing trust in the Divine. So fostering connection is another way to discover spiritual nurturance. The best part is that it's free and readily accessible.
On a recent "staycation", (a vacation within a short distance from home for economic or ecological reasons), my traveling companions and I found ourselves "lost" in the Green Mountains of Vermont. After several miles of switch back curves in stunningly beautiful country, we saw a sign indicating that the next six miles would be "scenic." After much laughter--especially from our friend who was raised in New York and had seen quite enough trees that day--we came down a steep hill. There to our right was an amazing waterfall, particularly splendid from the recent spell of heavy rains. Our friend who was woozy from the switch backs, and thinking we were quite out of our minds to consider that views of mountain after mountain were renewing, stood with the mist softly caressing her face. In awe of this natural wonder, she stayed riveted to the spot for several minutes. We would never had discovered this if we had chosen a well traveled path or route. All of us have added that magical waterfall to our list of memories to call upon for spiritual nurture.
Another resource for spiritual nurture is a planned pilgrimage. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Penobscot natives who were exhibiting their baskets. These birch bark creations were made in the original methods passed to the artisans by their ancestors. Barry Dana, his wife and another young man shared what it was like for them to participate in the annual one hundred mile pilgrimage to Mount Katadin, the sacred mountain of the Penobscot Nation. Each had a different version of its spiritual significance. For one it was the act of recreating the ways of his ancestors even though he did this with the support of today's provisions and supplies. Through physical endurance, he knew that he would be able to feel his ancestors in his body. The other man was planning to find his way through the event by thanking all the spirits he became aware of along the way. His eyes shone as he told of his preparations for the pilgrimage which would be held on Labor Day weekend. I found myself weeping, too as each one spoke his or her truth. I felt gratitude for their sharing and a continuity with my own Penobscot lineage.
A few years ago, our dear friend and Peruvian shaman Puma led a pilgrimage to a sacred glacier in Peru. As leader, he was responsible for feeding a thousand or more people and keeping them safe until their return. This was quite a task as on other pilgrimages to the glacier, people fell into a crevasse and died. (While this sounds terrible, he explained that when such events happen, it is considered a sacrifice taken by the mountain spirits which would guarantee the well-being of all the people.) The annual pilgrimage was a way for the people to celebrate their connections to the mountains and honor them for their life-giving rain. For this reason, the entire way up and down the mountain was celebrated with music and singing.
These are just some ways in which spiritual nurturance can be an integral part of our lives. Perhaps this will stimulate your imagination to explore what would work for you. Eckhart Tolle writes in his book A New Earth that, “A new species is arising on the planet. It is arising now, and you are it!”
-Allie
By C. Allie Knowlton, MSW, LCSW, DCSW
Co-Editor
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C. Allie Knowlton, MSW, LCSW, DCSW is a psychotherapist, shamanic teacher and healer in practice with her partner Evelyn C. Rysdyk. Included in thebook Traveling Between the Worlds, Allie and Evelyn are among the world’s most influential writers and teachers of shamanism.
Allie brings a lifetime of connection to Spirit to her work with individuals and groups. Originally trained as a minister, she now presents eco-spiritually focused training programs--which include advanced shamanism and shamanic healing---across the USA and Canada. In addition, as a founding member of True North, a unique, integrated medical center in Falmouth, Maine--she collaborates with physicians, nurses, a psychiatrist, a naturopath and several other complementary healthcare practitioners to provide a new model of health care that includes the spirit.
www.spiritpassages.org
www.spiritliving.org
Note: For more information on Earth Spirit Living by Ann Marie Holmes see this month’s Shamama Bear Review
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