Spirituality (and perhaps the meaning of life)
"We don't know all the reasons that propel us on a spiritual journey, but somehow our life compels us to go. Something in us knows that we are not just here to toil at our work. There is a mysterious pull to remember." ~Jack Kornfield, from After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
If spirituality is music, then religions are radio stations. With a wide variety from which to choose, most of us have a favorite. While some listen to only one station and feel very strongly that it's the best, some don't listen at all. Many are somewhere in between, enjoying music from a few stations, picking and choosing the programs and songs they like best. Something about the music we hear on that particular station resonates with us...as opposed to the other stations with music that thumps too loudly, or is too quiet to get us excited. THIS station plays music we understand and enjoy.
I think this is an experience that we, as humans, need if we're to interpret or understand the mysterious "divine" with our limited 5 (sometimes 6) senses. This is the role that religion plays.
Personally, I've tried a few radio stations. There's one I like better than the rest, but I'm also keeping in perspective that it's a radio station, and not the entire entity known as music.
Things I know for sure
My beliefs have changed over time but looking back, I realize that I was just trying out the different radio stations. Once I set my sights (or ears, if you will) on the actual music I realized that it didn't really matter what station I listened to, I would experience music either way. With this perspective in mind, there are a few things that I feel confident to say that I know for sure:
1. There is music. There are too many harmonic masterpieces to write them off as just being random or coincidental.
2. We are notes, integral parts of the melody. If you've seen someone die, or even known someone who later died, you know that there is something different about their live body and their deceased body. There's an essence, a spirit that was there, and is now not there (inside the body). This goes for animals, too, by the way.
3. Earth is music school. I believe that our spirit, which resides in our human bodies right now, is only a fraction of our larger soul. Our soul's purpose is to grow and develop (to what end, I do not know). I believe that we choose the earthly circumstances into which we will incarnate, and with deliberate intention. This explains why we may grow up or exist in circumstances that many of us would consider to be less than ideal.
You might ask why our souls would choose such a long "sentence" on the earthly plane to gain these lessons...I think that our lives, which seem long to us, are but just a blip, a tiny second, in the infinite beyond. I'm not even sure that time really exists in the beyond...at least not in the linear fashion that we understand. Who's to say that our souls couldn't simply choose to incarnate into 10,000 B.C. if they wanted? If we can conceive of it, it's got to be true somewhere, I think.
I read this beautiful short story which illustrates the concept of the soul choosing it's next life. The author is Erin Pavlina (her blog is very inspiring to me!).
4. Some of us are music teachers and some are music students. Most of us are probably both. You can't have a school with just students and no teachers, and vice versa. I believe that some souls incarnate with the intent to teach. For me, this explains people who achieve great good and conversely, great evil. But all lessons need not be so extreme. What about a small child who dies very young of cancer? What could her parents have learned from her? And the rest of us? What could we have learned from this tiny teacher? And what might the child have learned?
We probably won't know all of the truths that exist, not during our short lifetime. That's OK. I think that we choose to "forget" what we know when we incarnate but that doesn't stop us from learning, in fact, it probably enhances our learning by allowing us to focus on the earthly lives and tasks at hand.
Trackbacks
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3/20/2008 11:39 AM
JewelFaerie Creations wrote:
Books rock. Little miniature worlds, filled with experiences, information, fantastic trips-they all have a way of either transporting us from our world to theirs, or filling our heads with knowledge. As a child, I was fortunate to have parents who valued books, reading and education. They read to me from day one and I loved books as soon as I was able to read them... -
3/20/2008 11:29 AM
JewelFaerie Creations wrote:
Books rock. Little miniature worlds, filled with experiences, information, fantastic trips-they all have a way of either transporting us from our world to theirs, or filling our heads with knowledge. As a child, I was fortunate to have parents who valued books, reading and education. They read to me from day one and I loved books as soon as I was able to read them... -
3/20/2008 11:23 AM
JewelFaerie Creations wrote:
Books rock. Little miniature worlds, filled with experiences, information, fantastic trips-they all have a way of either transporting us from our world to theirs, or filling our heads with knowledge. As a child, I was fortunate to have parents who valued books, reading and education. They read to me from day one and I loved books as soon as I was able to read them... -
3/20/2008 11:34 AM
JewelFaerie Creations wrote:
Books rock. Little miniature worlds, filled with experiences, information, fantastic trips-they all have a way of either transporting us from our world to theirs, or filling our heads with knowledge. As a child, I was fortunate to have parents who valued books, reading and education. They read to me from day one and I loved books as soon as I was able to read them... -
3/13/2008 1:54 PM
JewelFaerie Creations wrote:
Every parent believes that her child is the smartest, most beautiful and most special child in the world. I hear from my friends and acquaintances that their children are the next Nobel-prize, Oscar winning Miss and Mr. Americas, but of course, we all know that they're wrong since mine is the superstar. Debate aside, what surprises me the most about being a mother is how it has changed me...
I love all your entries.. this one was close to my heart.. I LOVE all types of music. Mostly I stick with classical in the car, at home I like anything that strikes my mood. Could be Gwen Stefani, could be the Beatles,Opera,Folk, Meditation.. just about anything, I have all types of music in my collections of vinyl, Cd, cassettes and some old 8 tracks!! Goddess Bless
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i think this is a beautiful and thought provoking entry.............
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This was such a joy to read!
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I've just recently stumbled upon your blog, and I found this post in particular very thought provoking. Can you tell me more about your "oversouls" idea? I might have a pretty good guess about its meaning, but I'd love to know your very own version. Thank you!
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