What does it mean to be spiritual?
A reflection on returning to the sacredness of the breath.
To consider what it means to be spiritual is to ask a question that has accompanied humanity for generations.
Reflecting on my childhood.
I see that I was raised within a religious environment shaped by ritual,
Tradition,
Scripture,
And doctrine.
Yet as I sit with the question of whether it was truly spiritual.
I find myself leaning towards no.
My own experience was rarely invited into the conversation.
The focus was often on following the rules and striving to be good.
Rather than nurturing a sense of trust in what was true within me.
With this reflection,
I realized that the question of what it means to be spiritual is perhaps as individual as the person who asks it.
Yet I sense that beneath our many expressions,
We are all reaching toward the same mystery.
The word spirit finds its roots in the Latin spiritus,
Meaning breath or breathing.
It is intimately connected to the idea of the breath of life.
Over time,
This word has come to embrace not only the physical act of breathing,
But also the more subtle realities of inspiration and soul.
Interestingly,
The name of God revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus was not God at all.
But Yahweh.
Pronounced in English as Yahweh.
As Richard Rohr explains,
The sound Yahweh is believed to mirror the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation.
The sacred name was considered unpronounceable.
Not because it was forbidden,
But because it was already being spoken through breath itself.
From the first inhale at birth to the final exhale at death.
Each breath becomes a quiet pronunciation of the divine name.
For Muslims as well as Arabic-speaking Christians.
The word used for God is Allah.
In dialogue with a Sufi teacher.
Roar learned that Allah too can be heard as the sound of breath.
Particularly the soft ha of exhalation.
Across these traditions,
Breath becomes more than biology.
It becomes a reminder that the sacred is not somewhere else,
But moving within us,
Moment by moment.
When we listen to the wisdom of many spiritual traditions,
We find that the first invitation into the presence of the Spirit or the Divine is to become attentive to our own breath.
There is something about this breath that serves as a great connector.
Drawing us into relationship with a greater reality.
Than what our eyes can perceive.
From a scientific perspective.
Breathing is an automatic function of the body.
One that is easily overlooked until it is threatened.
Whether through illness,
An allergic reaction,
A crowded space,
Or a stifling room,
When our breath becomes constricted,
We become fully aware of its preciousness.
In these moments,
We come to recognize the sacredness of breathing.
Whether we receive medicine.
Step outside for fresh air,
Or simply pause to draw a deep breath.
Our bodies remember what it means to be alive and to receive the gift of a new breath.
Relief and gratitude arise,
And life returns to our lungs.
This experience is shared by every human being and by every creature that walks the earth or soars above it.
It is true as well for every plant,
Tree,
And shrub that rises from the soil.
Through this breath,
We are joined to one another and to every being that has ever lived.
It is a life force flowing through us like a constant stream,
Always moving forward through time.
As breath is sacred,
So too is this mystery of connection that binds us to all that is.
It seems that to live a spiritual life is to look beyond what is immediately before us.
To sense a connection to something deeper than what appears on the surface.
It is to recognize that we are both human beings invited into the divine.
And the divine expressing itself through our humanity.
To hold both truths together is the great paradox of life.
And a privilege worthy of noticing.
It is also important to remember that this experience includes both love and suffering.
To embrace our spirituality is to recognize that everything belongs.
Love,
Suffering,
Joy,
Loss,
Happiness,
And grief.
Through it all,
We remain connected to something greater.
Something that holds us,
Accepts us,
And loves us without condition.
This awareness of acceptance,
Grace,
And connection to a larger reality inspires within me a deeper reverence for all living things,
Both present and past.
It gently lifts the veil of separation between myself and others.
If we are indeed connected through this breath and this energy.
Than whatever I do to another.
I also do to myself.
If I destroy a forest,
I diminish an entire ecosystem of life and the very air that sustains me.
If I judge another,
I send pain and judgment into the world.
If I harm a creature.
I wound a mother,
A father,
Or a child within a family.
I am not separate from anyone or anything.
To honor this connection,
I believe spirituality invites us to care for it.
To care for the plant,
The shrub,
And the tree.
To care for the birds of the sky,
The creatures of the earth,
And the swimmers of the sea.
To care for our neighbors regardless of where they come from,
What they believe,
Or whom they love.
There is no better or worse.
Everyone and everything is precious.
Perhaps to be spiritual is simply to remember the sacredness of this breath.
The breath that connects and sustains us throughout the unfolding mystery of life.
Our journey begins with our first breath and ends with our last.
Between these two sacred moments lies the miracle of the whole of our life.
With warmth and gratitude,
Brooke.
