Shifting

Recently, my spirituality has felt a shift. The shift, like all change, has left me feeling disoriented and fatigue, but I also can’t shake the feeling that where I’ve landed is infinitely more expansive- and healthy.

I no longer find myself praying to an abstract external presence. I don’t perceive God as a guiding light completely detached from my own intuition, incumbent upon me to find. And obey. Or else the presence will become further. Hazier.

I’ve begun to understand that Christ is in me. My gut. And in everything- always. The divine in me- and you- Christ- is the fabric of the cosmic collective. God is intimate.

What if Christ is not only Jesus in history, and God in heaven, but also grace experienced now? What if Christ is radical compassion? Mysterious peace? a love that mends?

This shift demands self-respect- and comes with an invitation for descent- past the constructs of personality- to the core of essence & being. To find that it is holy there. That Christ is revealed in the spaciousness of the deep- and we are free from the expectations of others and the constructs of success that have informed our marks of worthiness. All of living suddenly feels like an inside job- where gratitude grows.

This shift demands a change from individualism to collectivism. From seeing things as separate parts to components of a whole- from hierarchy to community. This shift demands reverence for all whom we encounter. Awe and respect for the holy of holies that can be found there. Changing mundane interaction to mystical encounter. Insecurity to appreciation. This shift brings about radical inclusion- and mobilizes social justice- always.

This shift demands profound honor for earth- for Christ in mountain. Christ in tree. Christ in wind. Christ in water. Christ in bug. Christ in soil. The first incarnation of God. We must love and weep for and protect the earth that holds us. The earth that nourishes us, despite enduring, careless exploitation. This shift challenges anthropogenic orientation. This shift broadens our understanding of “the least of these” to include the trees, rivers, rocks, and animals that have no voice for self-advocacy. This shift demands mourning. This shift demands simplicity. And action.

Living in this oneness- with oneness being Christ- ourselves not excluded- that is the shift that is healing and guiding me.