We who publish the Pulse of Spirit seek to engage in soul talk—conversation, soul to soul, about the deepest things of our human experience. There is time for political talk and trivial talk and talk about the latest Netflix series. But this is soul talk. We are getting down to the essential things of the human experience, speaking for real, heart to heart, about the most pivotal things in life.
So, let’s take a deep breath and begin.
Our physical breath is a living symbol of how we take in activating energy and release it in the world. The word inspiration itself is rooted in the act of breathing. Physically and spiritually, we have to breathe in before we can breathe out. We are activated by our inhale.
Spiritually, we can try to bring Love to another person or to the world. Yet if we have not let it deeply into ourselves, it can’t happen. We do not have it to give. So we have to learn to let Love in deeply if we are to breathe it out. And so it is with all the gifts of Spirit we have to receive and give to the world.
In last week’s Pulse of Spirit, I compared our spiritual activation to the quantum leap made by an electron. The energy for that leap does not come from the electron itself. According to the quantum theory put forward by Niels Bohr, particles of light power the electron to make its leap.
What are the energies that we take in as human beings to make our leap?
There is full-spectrum light available for the electron. But the relevant frequency is just that part of the spectrum that the electron needs to activate its quantum leap. And so it is for us. There is the full spectrum of source energy available to us. There is one aspect of that spectrum that we need for our quantum leap now. All the frequencies are in play. But there is one frequency that is relevant for our activation now.
The story of the electron reminds me of the tale of Jumping Mouse from Native American folklore. Jumping Mouse leaps up to see the Sacred Mountains. The sight of them is magnificent, but he falls back to earth. Like the electron, he doesn’t have the power within him to make his leap. He jumps to see them, only to fall back to earth.
After many adventures, Jumping Mouse is pounced on and consumed by Eagle. He finds himself flying among the clouds, looking down at the Sacred Mountains and all that is below. He realizes that he is no longer Jumping Mouse. He has become Eagle, soaring in the heavens. He made his quantum leap.
What is the ultimate leap that we are to make? When we let in the power, the Light, and the Love of Spirit, it activates us, and we make our leap. That leap is into becoming what we have let in. We become the Fire of Love on earth. We become the lighthouse in the storm. We become the power of life itself, the animating energy of all Creation. We are no longer the human being who was looking for something enlivening. We become that in expression.
This is our quantum leap.
I declare now that you are Eagle. I am Eagle. We no longer aspire; we are no longer becoming. We are knowing who we are. We are bringing our Light, our vision, our Fire of Love into the world. We are all those energies of Spirit, the full spectrum of Light.
We are the Sovereign Soul, present in our world as that. We are the Creator. Our mind and heart have been transformed, no longer fully occupied with the concerns of the human being that we have been. Yes, our life is still there. Yes, we still care for everyday things. I did my laundry yesterday; how about you? But we are coming into all those affairs knowing that something larger than all that has consumed us. And so, we let go of the earthly entanglements, allow ourselves to be carried up, and dare to accept the reality of the Being we are and the vision that is rightfully ours.
And so, we know honor. We know the nobleness of Being itself. We know Love—yes, as something affectionate and caring but as the almighty power of the universe, the power of Creation that transforms and transmutes. And we know that this is our power as a Being.
We are the lighthouse. We are the sovereign Being of our world. These are our people. This is our earth and our world. Our great Love extends out into the world to embrace it, to activate it. We have that power as a Sovereign Soul. And we know that our limited human mind, on its own, does not understand that, but we know it. So, to be truthful to the Sovereign Soul we are, we show up as that, saying proudly, I Am. I Am That I Am.
Please join me as I invite you to breathe deeply after each of these three statements.
Breathe out honor.
Breathe out nobleness.
Breathe out Love.
Inspired by my friend, Fiona, I lovingly bring my morning meditations arising from ‘Breathe out Love’ by David Karchere.
I looked up the root meanings of ‘inspire’, ‘aspire’ and ‘expire’ on my phone dictionary.
‘inspire’ – to breathe or blow into, to influence, move or guide.
‘aspire’ – to rise up to a great plan, an abundant hope of fulfilling a worthwhile mission.
‘expire’ – breathe out.
and to quote some more…. ‘to inspire is to convey a feeling of joining a higher cause, influencing soulful action. Simply defined, aspire is an individual effort while inspire brings others into the mix’.
I associated these thoughts on breathing with a practice called ‘Tonglen’ described in Pema Chodron’s book entitled ‘When things fall apart’. In it she describes the practice of ‘tonglen’ as a ‘method of connecting with suffering – our own and that which is all around us, everywhere we go. It is a method of overcoming our fear of suffering and for dissolving the tightness around our hearts. Tonglen reverses the usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure. In the process, we become liberated from very ancient patterns of selfishness. We begin to feel love for both ourselves and others; we begin to take care of ourselves and others. Tonglen awakens our compassion and introduces us to a far bigger view of reality.’
So back to my own thoughts. To ‘expire’ could mean death, and it could be the vital means of bringing more Life, Love and Light into our creative fields. As Fiona says, without breathing out, ‘we could not speak, sing, or whistle, and a range of musical instruments where our control of breath is required to create rich sounds’.
We are the ‘Eagle’ that David refers to in the Pulse of Spirit, we are designed to express from Sovereign soul and breathe out Love, bringing a healing balm, ennobling and honouring the Other.
COVID-19 has been a great catalyst. For one thing, we have learnt to value our lungs, and breathing. Without breath we would not be alive (after birth); we could not speak, sing, or whistle, and a range of musical instruments where our control of breath is required to create rich sounds.
Whilst we may be considering the Quantum science of Nils Bohr, his father Christian Bohr was also noteworthy, studying the association of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body, research known as the “Bohr Effect”. Ground-breaking and initially controversial.
Emerging from an industrial world, we are learning to have a greater appreciation of clean air; of the consequences of toxic emissions, with not just damage to our lungs, but damage to our planetary atmosphere.
The encouragement to rise up, to have perspective, insight and awareness. The air is more rarified in higher altitudes and much quieter – released from the cacophony of life below. To dwell in rarified substance, this is surely our homeward journey.
Let us be beacons and guides to others in our ascension, remembering the spiritual gift of breathing; the in and out, the giving and receiving of love.