Spiritual Growth - Morning Star Institute -- October 2003

OCTOBER 2003 SPIRITUAL TEACHING

While I gaze at the Pacific Northwest beauty before me, I feel an oneness with the cedar and the mist. A joy to behold, a feeling to cherish and the smell—fresh, alive and mysterious—but is this not also the gist of life? I’ve always wondered why people react so negatively to an over-cast misty morn. Does it sub-consciously vibrate their inner over-cast and possibly darkened heart? Tomorrow may bring a sun filled view of the cedar—the darkness is gone, the mist a memory. But what about the darkened hearts? Does the sun ever metaphorically shine within?

Separate from nature, many walk through life as in a bubble—possibly seeing a flower and possibly even smelling it’s beauty but with a heart and mind separate from the truth of the flower and the experience of nature as their home. We lock ourselves away within the protective walls of a human made structure, spend the majority of our waking hours commuting and working inside, separate from the rain, the sun and as the days darken, even the moon. And for what, I ask?

Separate, separate, and separate—from our true self, our children, and nature. Ah, the blissful vacation and don’t forget the weekends. A vacation, possibly 10 days out of 365! Now our neighbors across the Atlantic and Pacific do holiday—20 to 30 days. I wonder why we vacation and don’t holiday?

Halloween, about half way between the fall equinox and winter solstice, a time in our culture for what—trick or treat! Around the same time, our neighbor to the south, Mexico, not tricking or treating, celebrates the Day of the Dead—an honoring of the ancestors and the ones that have passed over, the Northwest Coast “smoke houses” begin to open for the winter dance season and Samhain, the Celtic Feast of the Dead marks the beginning of winter and a honoring of the ancestors, when the veil between our world and the Otherworld is thinnest.

Vacation and Halloween, or holiday and the Day of the Dead, do I need to say more?