Do You See and Hear and Walk in a Sacred Manner?
An Inner-World Exploration
Picture yourself walking along the edge of a body of water. If you move your feet slowly, the water will have some ripples, but the life that is teeming below will not be disturbed.
If you jump into the water and splash around, waves will go out and the inhabitants of the water will be affected.
But whatever move you make, consciously or unconsciously, you are affecting the whole. The whole planet. Everyone on it. You affect everything by simply being. That’s a huge responsibility.
We are one interconnected cosmic ocean. What we do and think and say ripples out into waves that support the collective environment or damage it.
We must learn to see and hear and walk in a sacred manner because what we send out comes right back to us.
How do you walk in the world? Do you send out gentle waves, or do you splash around?
We affect the world by simply being
Every breath we take affects the world. Every thought we think sends waves out into the world. Changing the world, changing our experience of how we live our life, begins with each choice we make.
We are One. We are sacred space. We affect each other.
Picture yourself as part of a cosmic ocean. What you put into it affects every part of the ocean. Over there. Over here. And whatever is happening over there affects you over here. One ocean, many waves. Many currents. All sacred. All part of the whole.
We have to see each other as sacred
My life is sacred. Your life is sacred. Do we know that? Do we live as if we understand that? What does it feel like to live a sacred life? What does it look like? How do we express ourselves as sacred space in our lives?
What does sacred mean to you?
I see sacred as something close to my heart. Not set apart to worship or admire, but something vital and dear that resonates with my heart, with my soul. I see sacred in nature – a waterfall, a cloud, the Moon. Sacred could be the look of discovery on a child’s face or the knowing smile of an artist who has just expressed herself well.
For me, the sacred is all of nature, and all of humanity. That means I respect it. I care for it. I honor it.
What feels sacred to you?
It takes mindful practice to remember that everything is sacred. Stop reading and look around you. Feel and listen to the space you are in. Feel its sacredness. What does it feel like? How does being in sacredness make you feel? When something is sacred, how do you treat it?
How do you care for the sacred?
“Reverence” is too confining a word, but I would approach something I perceived as sacred with my antennae out, with all sensors tingling so I would not miss a moment. There might be deep appreciation for its beauty or its power. There might be a deep inhaling of its scent, or a gentle touch of its texture.
It’s easy to not notice how awesome life is.
My cat is sacred. He is life. He is love. He is companionship. He is play. He accepts and needs my care. I’m not sure what a cat’s version of love is but to me it’s snuggling next to me in our big chair or sleeping at my feet while I sit at my desk and write. He joins me in my morning spiritual practice. He has become an integral part of my life experience.
Do you have a sacred pet? How does that relationship nurture you?
There is an intertwined relationship with things that feel sacred to you
Since everything is sacred, we are in an intertwined relationship with everything – we just have to be aware of it.
Intertwined. That means my tug on my strand over here affects your strand over there. I have control over two things – what I put out and what I take in. How I put it out and how I take it in.
Mindfulness is the cornerstone of honoring our interconnectedness
Begin at this very moment to think of yourself as sacred. You have the responsibility of acting with the loving care of the sacred. You have the opportunity to reach the hearts of others through your sacredness. When you know that, when you live by that, you will affect others in a sacred manner.
How do you hear the sacred?
Put your fingers in your ears and listen. That is the sound of you! That is a sacred sound.
You hear the sacred when you listen to what is not said with more attention than the words that are said. You listen for the love beneath the words, or the worry, or…whatever is not said. You listen to the energy of the exchange.
Remember when you heard someone sing a song with great passion? Pouring their soul into their performance? You stopped and listened and felt. Most of all you felt their passion and love and offering of self in your heart. One sacred heart speaking to another.
Feel the core energy
As you move to learn to see and hear in a sacred manner, use your feelings. Let them become an antenna, a barometer, a guide. Let your intuition and your knowingness help you find the true nature beneath what you see and hear.
How do you reframe what you see?
I may have to look past the surface to see the light. We are all light. We are all one. And yet that angry person over there doesn’t feel very sacred, doesn’t look like light. I have to look past what is manifesting and how I’m feeling about it to know and understand the soul within, the soul who has come to earth to learn and grow and may be having a hard time.
It’s not necessarily my job to help or not help another, but it is my job to see the other person as pure light. That allows them to see and know themselves as pure light. And that will comfort them and inspire them and help them feel connected.
How do you reframe what you hear?
We are all pure love. That’s not always easy to understand, accept or share with others. But if we hear that angry person’s words as one of a “light being” in pain, or a “light being” in need, or a “light being” trying his or her best, it shifts how we hear what we hear.
Everything we do affects the global community
Our mere existence affects the global community. Each breath, each action, each thought moves out into this cosmic ocean, this interconnected web of life and affects each part of it. We affect our world both consciously and unconsciously. That’s a huge responsibility – to be certain that your life is positive for the well-being of the collective, that your thoughts, your actions are offered with an awareness that you are sacred space that is affecting other sacred spaces.
How does that change how you live your life?
Look for light and love
If we walked around looking for the light and love in everyone we saw, life would be an entirely new experience. Here we are, in our assorted body suits, bumping around on earth, some doing it more easily than others. But we are all light and we are also all love.
Can you see everything as light?
Can you hear everything as love?
I, for one, am still working on it. But it is very much worth the effort.
To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:
Where Do You Find Your Inner Circle of Light Beings?
What is the Difference between Spirituality and Religion?
How to Weave the Sacred into the Ordinary
