The Wind of Spirit

The Wind of Spirit - Universe, Life, Ego - The Spirit of Exploration

You feel the wind, you see what is carried by the wind, you know it exists. But you don't see it.

Science discovers forces, particles, forms of energy. Science pushes us beyond the limitations of the senses through the invention of new measurement systems - creating more sophisticated devices to sense ever smaller or more distant processes. Science can shed light on the structure of the universe and of life. It shows how energy becomes matter, that structures are expressions of processes - that everything comes from interactions between vast numbers of other processes.

When wind blows through a mist, you see shapes come into being, and fade into nothingness.

The universe is energy. Most of the energy is hidden from us. The vastness of that energy hints at something far beyond our comprehension. We can discover a new particle of matter, a fundamental force of nature, or higher dimensions beyond time and space. With each new discovery, we discover new possibilities, and we become aware of how much less we know about the mystery of the universe and of life.

Our distant ancestors believed the wind to be an invisible spirit.

Science has known for a long time what really makes the wind. With measurement systems you can track it's course, structure and measure it's properties - speed, temperature, pressure, density and so on. It's still difficult to exactly describe how wind can shape itself into a tornado - but in general there is some understanding of how this happens. And there is a general understanding of the overall dynamics of wind.

The idea of something unknowable exerting pressures on life - is still thought of as the wind of spirit.

Someday science may discover something that accounts for our experience of "spirit" - and also discover that there is far more to learn about "spirit" than we can currently imagine.

The basic idea of spirit is that it is something that pressures all things. It's hidden from view, perhaps it moves outside the realm of time and space, beyond the multiple dimensions speculated to exist in the relatively new physics of string theory. Perhaps Spirit moves in a timeless, spaceless existence. Each movement generates infinite universes, endless streams of space-time coming and going.

The architecture of space and time emerged from vast energy. Infinite energy pops out of the Void. The phrase "Big Bang" is misleading - it was really the emergences of a silent expansion of multiple dimensions from a dimensionless energy. Our universe condensed into dimensions, forces, particles. Each particle exists because of the existence of an infinity of other particles. Each particle is a drop of energy condensed by the processes that exist due to the existence of an infinity of other particles and energies. Our universe exists because of the existence of an infinity of other universes.

The interdependence of everything is the stuff that makes the fabric of this universe. The folds of this fabric are what we see as matter, energy, forces. The dynamics of this fabric are the endless interactions and transformations of matter and energy.

The Spirit is that which shapes the ever-transforming dance of energy and the play amongst infinite interactions.

When you're watching clouds and see shapes come and go, you get a sense of the transience of life. If you could search this entire universe and find all organic life it would still be an insignificantly small component of this universe. Organic life comes and goes just as easily as those shapes in the clouds. As matter and energy transform over time, a tiny fraction of all that stuff collapses into self-replicating molecular structures that adapt, learn, accumulate, and become capable of architecturing living creatures. A tiny fraction of this universe becomes capable of sensing, learning, and wondering. With time, and with the spirit of exploration, creatures adapt to become more complex, intelligent, discovering new kinds of awareness, new kinds of senses, new ways of seeing and learning and discovering.

This spirit of exploration is the wind of Spirit within us. Our sense of something beyond what we know - is what leads us to explore beyond what we know. As we discover more, our sense of Spirit is pushed to new dimensions.

If you could create a universe within a tiny spec of dust - how would you explore that universe? You would attempt to create some form of sensory device in that speck of dust. With some luck, you would be able to immerse yourself in that universe by connecting somehow to that sensory device.

Your existence is like a leaf blowing in the winds of Spirit. The body and mind are like that leaf - except they have sense, awareness. With time and with the constant pressure of this spirit of exploration, the reach of our senses and awareness grows.

Ego is the center of need and desire. Ego has a complex sensory network - it senses it's need and desires. Through the matrix of memory, thought, feeling - ego senses itself and shapes the inner landscape of it's own existence.

Mind and feelings are like a new universe formed within the boundaries of the body. It's a new realm for exploration. It's a place where new senses can be formed, new kinds of awareness can be created, and where imagination, creativity and new kinds of intelligence can grow.

However, in all living creatures - the senses go hand in hand with pleasure and pain. The mind is touched by pleasure and pain - with time, the mind sticks to the processes of grasping (for pleasure and comfort) and aversion (avoidance of pain, discomfort). The mind accumulates memories of pleasure and pain - grasping and aversion. The ego emerges from all this as a sense of identity - that identity being defined by the memories (conscious and unconscious) of the totality of the pains and pleasures in one's life.

Ego is awareness of one's own being. For most of us, ego is the inner sensation of the total effect of these memories, these grapsings and aversions. The feelings associated with your ego are shaped by your history of feelings and desires - your conditioning.

As a creature evolves in complexity, the processes of grasping and aversion can lead to new and troublesome forms of fear and greed. As our basic instincts encounter a spacious mind full of imagination and thought, the kinds of fear and greed that result from this encounter become more and more complex and entrenched.

With a little discipline and a willingness to let go of our graspings and aversions - we can step into a new journey - of riding with the wind. It takes compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity and caring to stay on this ride.

Succumbing to the forces of grasping and aversion, our ride takes a pause. Don't let it pause you for too long, otherwise you will become spiritually stagnant - a state of soul-lessness, lost direction, dissatisfaction, frustration and darkness - where concerns of pain and pleasure consume all your energies. With each pause - take some time to learn about this terrain of grasping-aversion-fear-greed ... this learning is part of spiritual evolution.

Compassion inspires you pass on your learnings to others - so that you can improve their chances for learning how to resume their ride on the Wind of Spirit. Try to remember not to become attached to those learnings - the ways back to that stagnant pool are many.

Soul flight - fuel for the spiritual explorer
Think of those things that bring your soul to life:

•Freedom from fear, hate, greed
•Freedom from sustained stress
•Freedom from dependency on a belief system
•A feeling of connection to an unlimited intelligence
•Inner silence
•Clear awareness
•Creative imagination
•Being centered in forgiveness, generosity, kindness, humility
•Feeling at home with the unknown and the unfamiliar
Think of those things that break the soul:

•Attachment to belief
•Addiction to greed
•Obsession with power, wealth and control
•Continuously stressing the inner animal
•Destruction of the healing emotions
•Suppressing awareness of the soul of nature
•Ignorance of the incompleteness of knowing
•Misuse of the powers of the imagination
Your human instincts include forgiveness, generosity, kindness, compassion and humility. They are as vital to our species survival as the fight-flight instincts. More important than these instincts is the instinctive intelligence that keeps your instincts in balance. The greatest instinct urges us to explore soul, imagination, consciousness and the web of life.


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Meditation - connecting with silence
Meditation and Inner healing - the art of calming, meditation, relaxation - a simple meditation method - "settle-sense-dive-let go"

A helping hand for your healing - healing sounds for your MP3 player or iPod



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Spiritual exploration - connecting with the wisdom of spirit
Threads of visions on exploration, meditation and the web of life - the soul's flight of exploration, meeting spiritual intelligence within the web of life

Fuel for the spiritual explorer - shares some insights from a spiritual explorer and his spirit companions

Contemplations on healing and meditation - insights into stress, silence, the inner animal and the spacious mind

More contemplations on healing and meditation - insights into religion, meditation, stress and healing

Explorations into spirituality - explorations into the source of spiritual wisdom

Healing the inner animal - explorations into the animal core of human nature and it's spiritual connection to the web of life

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