Spiritual Practice as Relational Activism

WHY SPIRITUAL PRACTICE NOW?

"There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now." -JAMES BALDWIN

In circle at the Imaginal Collective yesterday, the question of "why spiritual practice now?" came up, and it had already been something my partner and I had been talking about earlier that day. So I want to take you deep into this with me—grab a cup of tea, because this one's longer than usual, but I think it might answer some questions you've been holding for a long time.

SO, ABOUT SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Spiritual practice is about working the atrophied muscle of remembrance: of who we are, essentially, and what this world is. Spiritual practice is not transcendence of daily life to some promise of "heaven" through realizing our Godness. Spiritual practice is embodied, immanent work with what actually is. A good little test for this is asking yourself, "Is it bringing you MORE into yourself/your body, or taking you away?"

But what sucks about that is that we may not feel well-resourced to actually comprehend and integrate the isness of reality. In fact, what even is the isness? And if I'm not feeling safe, can I even trust anything that will bring me more into myself and my body?

Excellent questions, my friends. I'd love to help with that.

Girl in a Tree by Frances Macdonald

INTRINSIC RELATIONALITY AS THE GROUND OF BECOMING

You may be familiar with the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of The Serviceberry and Gathering Moss. Let me borrow a quote from Braiding Sweetgrass.

"Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift."

This is the inherent relationality of existence and the foundation from which I build my spiritual practice and the practices I teach. The reason for this foundation is implicit in the idea that, just like our essential natures, the world is, in its essence, perfect. In Tibetan Buddhism, it's called rigpa and is something that, through practice, is recognized, not attained. I believe that this inherent ground of the essential nature of perfection is found not just in human, but in nature, herself, as living being and larger whole. And both she and us are found in this web of relationality that, in its quantum state of beingness, is absolutely whole, true, and as it needs to be.

Human responsibility, then, becomes the practice of recognition and remembrance: both of this essential nature, but also of how each of us, uniquely, fits into this larger field of existence as complete wholenesses unto ourselves.

You may be familiar with the concept of the microcosm and the macrocosm. Within many esoteric traditions, from Renaissance hermetic understanding to ancient Sufi tradition, there has been an understanding that each person is within themselves a microcosm of the macrocosm--not in the sense of just reflecting it, but in literally possessing within yourself the WHOLENESS of reality. This distinction is important because it begins to weave the threads of how we are in intrinsic relationship with everything else in existence WITHOUT losing the unique thread of who we individually are.

And yet most of us perceive ourselves as a fixed self - 'if I just be this particular way, I'll be good.' We try to perfect a static identity, changing little bits at a time, when what we actually contain is the wholeness with the sovereignty to arise as whatever is needed in each moment. We mistake being ourselves for performing a consistent identity, when it's actually the freedom to respond from the fullness we contain.

And, to state it simply (I hope, ha!), this is why spiritual practice is important at any given moment, because it is the literal foundation of the recognition of our part in the larger collective, but also the unique expression of who we individually are. In this, we can show up as ourselves, sharing our skills and our vision for a beautiful world. We are not meant to transcend the self and dissolve into unity consciousness, ignoring the expression of pain we witness daily. This is about being so deeply embodied into the isness of who we are in our wholeness that we arise in every moment the full Presence that can only be experienced through the memory of all that we are. And, thus, to meet wholeness with wholeness and call forth this wholeness in manifest reality.

FINDING THE GROUND OF SOVEREIGNTY WITHIN

So what gets in the way of this remembering? What gets in the way of us becoming all of who we are? And why is it so damn hard to just "be yourself"??

Those are big questions, my dear, but it really is simple: a mistake in perception. A simple, innocent, unconscious mistake. And this mistake duplicates onto itself indefinitely until our whole worldview is overshadowed by this one simple mistake: that we are in separation. We isolate ourselves from the fullness we contain by identifying with only one small part of who we are: repressing what doesn't fit, clinging to fixed identities, limiting ourselves to be acceptable. This creates a delusion - we forget we possess the wholeness of reality within us. And when we forget what we contain, we experience ourselves as powerless and isolated, uncared for in an uncaring world, and at odds with the wholeness of existence, herself.

And when we cannot see the wholeness within ourselves, we cannot see the wholeness of the world either, and instead we perceive only the limited view of what keeps us in that limitation. When we believe ourselves to be limited, we see the world in a limited way, oftentimes seeing the prescribed view of out of control corruption and evil that we are powerless against.

But just as Robin Wall Kimmerer shows us, the world is feeding us, holding us, and gifting us joy every single moment. It may not look like it, but do we know where to look? And does knowing where to look automatically make us blind to everything else? Of course not. But it does begin to peel back the veil of misperception and show us the reality of the connected whole and how we can, just maybe, find a sense of belonging in a place where we feel seen, safe, and cared for, at one with our reality as wholly ourselves.

And the foundational ground of that practice starts within. Within the dominion of our individual sovereignty as people in possession of the microcosm of the wholeness of reality within our very being! That's right, in the very beingness that is you, the indestructible ground of your very existence.

So how do we find that ground, how do we feel sovereign within its domain, and how does this work help us exist in the wholeness of reality?

Practice. We have to gain back the muscle memory and smooth over the well-worn grooves of doubt, self-betrayal, and general survival of doing the best we possibly could with the tools and skills we were given and taught. And that practice, genuinely, is deceptively simple. Ways the masters of old knew, but has often times been hidden or overcomplicated as a way of protecting this sacred path back to yourself.

Because let's face it, systems of control benefit when we are not in relationship, not with one another and especially not with ourselves. But we become completely sovereign and empowered when we know ourselves so intimately that no amount of gathered data cataloguing will ever scratch the surface of who we know ourselves to be. And when we operate from our inner sovereignty, the outer becomes the thing that responds to us, not the other way around.

When we know ourselves, we know the whole. And when we know the whole, we are in perfect relationship with everything as it uniquely is. Not needing to define it, control it, or manipulate it. Because nothing is needed from it; everything you need is within you and in relationship to you. This is the empowerment in the practice of knowing yourself.

THE GROUNDWORK

This is the work I eat and breathe, and, consequently, teach: relational animism and personal sovereignty through self-knowledge. And why is it important now? Because this is the work of becoming radically ourselves, able to reclaim the colonized ground within so we can restore the ground without. This is the work of becoming whole to ourselves so we don't strip our world bare looking for what we think is missing outside of ourselves.

If you're interested in this from a personal practice point of view, you might want to join us in the Imaginal Collective, where we are doing practice together to develop the self-knowledge and presence that will reveal who you naturally are and what you have to offer. This is where you strengthen the muscle of being yourself, of beginning to relate from wholeness, and in shaping a vision for who we can be as individuals and collectively.

Through my sacred unity of Self & Other writing and teaching, you can explore the philosophical frameworks for understanding how we move from projection to genuine relationship with all beings—human and more-than-human, with ourselves and with each other. Most of this work is available free on the blog here. This will get you familiar with the concepts before jumping into practice.

And then on the commercial side of things, I'm offering Spirit of Place Mediation, where I work with businesses to establish relational harmony with the spirits of place and the people who work and visit there as a way to further embody this path, not just in our personal lives, but in our professional and commercial landscape, as well. I find this to be just as important as how we relate one to another and one to nature because this area is much more stained with the impression of extractive forms of relating than anything else.

I hope this helped define not only why spiritual practice is essential to these times, but how it can be just as potent of an avenue for activism as any other expression. We all have gifts and inclinations to specific work as we build this new way and I want to help resource those of us gifted in the spiritual side of things to help bridge this gap of the spiritual reality of our physical existence.

I know this was potentially a lot of new concepts, language, maybe even perspectives. If it resonates, amazing, I hope it continues to be of benefit as you integrate it. If it raises questions or you are wanting more personalized guidance in this way, don't hesitate to reach out.