Pulse of Spirit

The world in which we live, and our own bodies, are filled with atomic energy. Under certain conditions, we see the fantastic levels of power involved, such as through nuclear power or a nuclear bomb. Under normal circumstances, that power is contained within the natural processes of Creation.

This power holds atoms together. It constellates matter at higher and higher levels and in increasingly complex forms—from molecules to the physical structures of the earth, from rocks to mountains, oceans, and clouds, and in the earth herself.

This atomic power constellates as biological life, into more and more complex structures; as cells, tissues, organs, and physical bodies.

The physical forms of our planet move, giving evidence of the power within them. Waves crash, winds blow, and mountains move ever so slowly over eons of time. Animal life moves about the planet, and plants move and grow at their own pace. But the physical world manifests more than the awesome power within it. There is wisdom and an immeasurably complex pattern constantly unfolding.

Through it all, we sense the Creator in the Creation. There is Presence. There is consciousness. This is how a favorite hymn puts it:

This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

This Is My Father’s World, Maltbie D. Babcock 

The reality of this Creator, who is everywhere, is not a god solely of human imagination, faith, or belief. It is the Being within all Creation. That is unless we are to believe that what we see around us is simply matter and energy without a soul.

Another name for this atomic energy could be Universal Love. It is what powers all things and what holds all things together. And apparently, it is an ordering power. Yes, it will blow things up if human beings use it to make an atomic bomb. But left to function according to its own nature, it organizes matter into more and more complex and magnificent forms.

As human beings, we are part of the mineral and animal life of Planet Earth. But we have an extraordinary capacity to allow the atomic energy within us to create a form of life even more complex than our physical bodies—consciousness.

All the forms of Creation are houses of Being in which the Creator lives. They are built by the Creator and the Creator lives in and through them. In that sense, consciousness is no different. And yet, it has the unique ability to be a house for the conscious Presence of the Creator, and with that a house for the conscious Presence of the ordering power of Love.

I am confident that you, as a reader of this Pulse of Spirit, are well aware that this is not the experience of the majority of the world population. But thank you for at least entertaining the possibility that what I am saying is true—that as human beings, despite all our flaws, hurts, and limitations, we are made to do this. That we have this potential within us, sometimes realized to whatever degree.

If this is our potential, what steps allow us to fulfill it? Because we are conscious beings, and what we are speaking of is a conscious awareness of the ordering Power of Love, unsurprisingly it takes conscious steps to fulfill this human destiny. The first step is to turn. While this could be symbolized in a physical turning, such as it is when a Muslim turns to face Mecca, the essence of this turning relates to something that is not primarily physical. It is a conscious turning away from giving emotional and mental priority to the world around a person. And it is turning toward the source of the ordering power of Love and the Great Mystery, which is the Presence of the Creator. This is how the individual consciousness becomes the House of God. This is how we allow the atomic power, bubbling up to higher and higher levels, to configure accurately as consciousness.

In this turning, there is an anointing. We are anointed by the oil of Love. Sometimes, in a ritual anointment, one person will smear oil on the forehead of another to symbolize and embody something going on at the level of consciousness. Within the brain there is an endocrine gland, the pineal, that is the temple for the Spirit of Love. And there is another endocrine gland, the pituitary, that is the temple for the Spirit of the Womb—the Spirit within a human being that receives Love from the pineal. Through anointment, we ritualize this interplay, and we consciously open to receive Love into our entire human experience.

This is how we allow the atomic energy that is bubbling up through our human experience to constellate at the level of consciousness—through turning and welcoming the anointment of Love.

When I first heard the name for the Spirit of the Womb, it was odd to me. Why are we naming the spirit of an endocrine gland in the head with the name of a woman’s anatomy that is in her pelvis? It took a while to appreciate that our ability to allow the Spirit of Love to conceive new life in us, and our ability to let that life grow, related to far more than a physical child. And that, in fact, is central to our function as conscious beings.

The origin of the word matrix refers to the female uterus and to mater or mother. Today, we use the word to refer to something within or from which something else originates, develops, or takes form. And to contemporary English speakers, it implies not only a surround, such as the female womb but the pattern of life held by that surround.

In the physical body, the pituitary gland is called the Master Gland, or as a friend of mine names it, the Mistress Gland. It sets the pattern for many of the other endocrine glands. In this way, it holds the matrix for the entire body.

We, as human beings collectively, are meant to be that matrix. Together, we are made to be able to let Love into our collective consciousness and let it do its perfect work. This spiritual matrix is formed by human relationship. The fidelity of the bonds between us keeps our collective womb space strong, or if those bonds are weak, they make us unable to sustain the growth of new life. This matrix is the embodiment of Mother God in the world.

This is how we bring the Presence and Power of the Creator into the world. It is first received into our collective spiritual womb. And then it is inevitably at work in the larger world in which we live. This is the Christ Child, born to us by the Power of the Holy Spirit, working in and through us.

This is how Love lives in our world. The tragedy of human experience is that often Love can’t live in our world. Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet tells of this failure to let Love live in the city of Verona, Italy, long ago. It ends with these words from the Prince of the city, in the form of a sonnet.

A glooming peace this morning with it brings.
The sun for sorrow will not show his head.
Go hence to have more talk of these sad things.
Some shall be pardoned and some punished,
For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

It is time to turn from the sadness, so evident in the world today. True, in so many ways, our world has not made a space for Love. So what do we do? It is time to turn toward the source of Love for this world and let it do its perfect work.

Turn.
Be anointed by Love.
Be part of the collective matrix shared by those who have turned and been anointed.
Give birth to the Christ Child, the Presence and Power of the Creator at work in the world.