We are Spirit and Form coming together

We humans are spirit and form coming together, dance of form and formless. It is up to us in this to observe how we might be, what accordance we shall give to our bodies, our spirits, and how we shall understand and exercise the possibilities of our blended nature. It is up to us to decide what we will follow, what shall gain leadership in our lives, what we agree to live by.

So let us consider and pay close attention to what form and spirit offer. What is the reality of each? Are we confusing the elements and attributes which emanate from these very distinct aspects of our being? Does this confuse the choices we make?

Before we proceed, let us distinguish between those things emanating from spirit and those from form.

Spirit, first, and form, second
Energy, first, and matter, second
Subjectivity, first, and identity, second

Being, first, and name, second (brought together in the soul)
Conscience, first, and thought, second
Awareness, first, and perception, second

First let us observe that the spirit is larger and deeper than the world. Spirit is the source or origin of form. As energy articulates and generates matter, so too does the Word give birth to words, the worldly and creative expressions of inspiration. Form cannot capture spirit, but spirit can capture form.

Note the effect of poetry and where poetry gains its strength and meaning. Follow poetry back to its source. A simple and elegant description of a red wheelbarrow (say, in a William Carlos Williams poem), awakens in many different readers a sense of the essence of that object. In so recognizing the essence of thing, a sense of beauty is inspired in the reader.

The beauty does not come from the image of the wheelbarrow, as indispensable as that is, nor even of the simple and evocative words of the poem itself. Rather it is in what the words transmit, essence, spirit, that beauty and life is found. The profound is evidenced and made present, even in simple description.

Second, let us acknowledge that lasting fulfillment is never created by form. Because forms pass, the happiness associated with them also must pass. Even a fortunate son shall die and see his body slowly age and wear over time, wonderfully and gracefully, one hopes, but wear nonetheless. We know that material wealth and accumulation can protect neither against mortality nor ruin. The materially rich can be miserable and the materially poor can remain in good spirits. Our happiness may be affected by but is not determined by their worldly condition. Our spirits decide.

Contemplate the statement, "Even though I've gone through a lot of changes, I'm still the same person as I've always been." This seems like a paradox, but we know what a person is saying when they say this. The "me," my being, the essential "who I am" has remained intact, even as "I" (the historical, time-dependent, personal human that I am) have gone through immense changes. I am transformed on the level of form (forms of thought, personality, knowledge, wealth, health), but I am remain whole on the level of spirit. I may be brought into closer contact with my being or drawn further away, but I remain inseparable from its beloved source.

Third, on the level of form we can never be the same. Difference is the eternal rule of form. In time and space we are different from one microsecond to the next and from one location to the next. The electrons in the atoms that constitute our bodies and our world shall never again be in the exact same alignment. If we are truthful we can talk about continuity on the level of form only in terms of tendencies, patterns, intentions, projections of our need for coherence and order.

Yet we are intended as well. We are created and part of a created and ever-yet-creating universe. Our patterns and laws cannot capture that of which we are a part. A relief steals over us is we acknowledge this. We are not the great achievers of humanity, but rather conducting wires of the spirit allowing us to midwife a greater creative power that can result in miraculous discoveries and inventions in the world. These, rightly understood, are homages to our spiritual source.

There is freedom in this vertigo. Because it is not bound by the rules of form, spirit never asks that we conform, even to legal and natural laws. We stifle our spiritual impulse to "fly" by jumping from a bridge, only because we know our form shall be destroyed and we want to further enjoy this life in this form. We can, in practice, decide to love our selves, our God, our neighbors, and our enemies not because we fear human law (which asks us to kill our enemies in conscripted war) but because so doing consummates the delight of of the spirit, and its "laws" of infinitely varied loving, giving, and sacrifice.

Sameness, conformity, is merely a projection of desire and a training of perceptions to "recoup the universe," an attempt to be God and to be the universe by claiming ultimate knowledge. Spiritual oneness is the opposite of formal sameness. Formal sameness is a conceit that through symbols, devices, and political power must be enforced and made to rule over both the ineffable spirit and the unruly and changing world. Spiritual oneness recognizes the beauty of uniqueness and diversity and sees difference as confirmation of its ever-creative glory.

In a supreme act of rebellion, resentment, and idolatry, the ego puts forth a false God of order which rejects the flow of creation and replaces it with a rule, which seeks to "civilize" the spirit and make it conform to the world. Yet this very act shows its falsehood: One never needs to enforce that which already is, that which is true on the spiritual level. Spiritual truth generates agreement by the demonstration of its creative and benevolent power in the souls of its citizens. It does not have to force agreement.

Quite the contrary. Spiritual truth allows humanity to recognize for itself what is just and right by allowing humanity to experience the painful consequences of spirit-defying actions- the pollution of the planet, torture of people, neglect of children. It allows people to experience the joys of spiritually consonant living-- clarity, love, devotion, generosity, equanimity. We are patiently encouraged see which actions accord with our spiritual natures and which do not.

Fourth, the spirit can never be possessed, only exercised, just as true intelligence and wisdom can never be possessed but rather only exercised. They who believe they can possess the truth, who confuse dogma or technical fluency with truth are fundamentalists what ever their beliefs might be. One ought first to be inspired, to let a greater knowledge dwell within and "use" one's being, and only secondarily apply the worldly tools of the mind to elaborate upon inspiration. All great discoveries seem to follow this pattern.

There is an inherent humility in this. One is recognizing on can never be a God unto one's self, but in joy, one is glad of this. Being a connected tendril of the spirit, conducting its light into this world, brings great joy and awareness. Why be a ruler of a cold and barren castle when you can be a servant in an infinitely varied and beautiful universe?

Revel in the Exercise of Being

You
Are not on the outside looking in
You are Being

You
do not possess a spirit
You are spirit embodied

In an eternal play and rhythm
Beauty revealed
in this instant

Newly reborn on this
morning
of endless time

Do not objectify yourself
Revel in the spirit
Come to know and be

Who You are