Scared Into Sacred

Scared Into Sacred

Something curious has been happening to me over the last year or so. It has to do with the notion of sacredness.

My religious upbringing was the acting out of the Santayana quote: There is no God and Mary is his mother. When we went to church, I often felt quiet, but not moved. I liked some of the music, but I would rather have sat by myself in the woods.

Now, I have had my share of visions and mystical experiences. Or maybe more than my share. Anyway, while they have been deeply spiritual,  none of them was religious in nature, so I’ve continued to be a bit of a heathen.

When I returned from Tibet and Nepal, I started to sit on my open air porch everyday. And I would ruminate, or cogitate, or meditate, or sometimes I would just be; birdies singing and squabbling at the feeder or bath, leaves rustling when there are leaves, peering through the branches when they are bare, observing traffic flow, feeling the temperature and breeze, being still when the little rabbit shows up. No thinking, just flow. Zen.

That space has become sacred to me. And being in that space, experiencing that state, I learned something else:  I actually hold that sacred space inside me. Oh, how exciting is that! It means that wherever I go, I can create my sacred space; at work, in the meditations I lead, in the classes I teach, in my writing time, at my Clark Kent job, my car. All I have to do is slow down a bit, relax a bit, and remember to be in it. Baby snails help me remember. Little tinkly fountains help me remember. Writing to you every day helps me remember.

So much of living a lovely, happy, peaceful, joyous life is practicing living it. So much of that practice is remembering to do it. And remembering to do it is about deciding you are going to have a lovely, happy, peaceful, joyous life. What a nice, supportive loop.

The other thing that is so nice about that loop is that it absolutely is not contingent upon our external circumstance. It may be challenging when my physical experience is giving me the woozy-sweats, or I am in the grip of a powerful emotion, but I am also used to practicing so I can get back there pretty easily. And I don’t need to have reminders stuck up everywhere anymore. I’m kind of proud of that.

The other other thing that is so nice about it is that it makes room inside for me to like you so much more. From that sacred space, I can see you so much more clearly. I may not be able to see what you’ve been through, but I can see that you’ve been through it, and are doing the best you can. So it makes it easy for me to feel compassion and love. Which makes it easier for me to get along, which makes stuff nicer for everyone, who makes it nicer for their everyone, and we’ve changed the world. Again.

By owning that I am sacred, I change my whole experience in a very subtle and profound way. By owning that I am sacred, I acknowledge that you are sacred, too. We just have some cleaning up to do.

How have I changed from feeling like an abomination, to appreciating and respecting my core divinity?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 03052013