Divine human

Marrying the corporeal with the spiritual.

Photo by Kolkatar Chobiwala from Pexels

The pursuit of comfort and security leads some to prioritize career, family, property, or material wealth above all else. Others who see themselves as seekers or pilgrims, pore over ancient texts, delve into mystical practices, and undertake intense spiritual exercises to commune with the divine, seeking enlightenment and a deeper connection with the spiritual world. The first group may view the second as impractical or delusional, while the second group might see the first as materialistic and indelicate.

Both human and divine, we are a blend of earthly and spiritual. Some struggle to accept their own divinity. Others struggle to accept their humanness. While remembering our divine nature is important, neglecting the joys and struggles of being human prevents us from fully appreciating life’s richness.

Being human means we’re restricted by our physical limitations and the constraints of time. To survive and feel comfortable, we must fulfill essential needs such as securing access to clean water, nutritious food, and safe housing. We are acutely aware of our own mortality, and the inevitable loss of those we hold dear. The struggle between our primal instincts of hunger and thirst, and the ever-present threat of death, is what makes human life so spectacular. Our limited lifespans give us a unique perspective unavailable to immortals. By embracing our humanness, we can be grateful that for our short time on earth, we can show up to greet the sun each day and do the physical work of living. “Oh to have a body that can do things!” said one of my clients after coming out of a psychedelic experience.

Sufi author Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee speaks of spirituality as being the natural orientation of the self and not something one has to learn from a book or a workshop. “I am love. I am eternal and present in all forms and non-forms, in all sentience,” says the Creator, or Universal Consciousness. Creator’s presence is felt everywhere. Our purpose, whether we walk the path of faith or no faith, is to cultivate the awareness of this presence of the divine, both in our waking moments and in our dreams. In the secret chamber of the heart, each person yearns for God, for love because that’s what we’re fundamentally made of. God/Love is the very fabric of our existence. When we die, we return to Love/God. We all become part of our Creator’s consciousness again.

“I got you. I am you,” a voice said to me while I was having a shower. I understood this to mean “Creator’s got my back, but Creator is also me”. When we embrace both our divine and human nature, we become fully realized individuals, capable of contributing meaningfully to the world. An imbalance results when the scales tilt too far in either direction. A worldview that is overly spiritual, religious or moral breeds fundamentalism and ideological extremism, resulting in self-abnegation, guilt, shame and intolerance. But viewing the world purely through a scientific, cause-and-effect lens can lead to cynicism, conceit and a rigid materialism that blinds one to the mystery and magic of life itself. So perhaps we ought to learn from the great sages and strive to integrate our divinity with our humanity.

Before creation, God, the First Consciousness, was alone, content in its solitude. After some time, the First Consciousness, being love itself, longed for connection and interaction, leading it to separate into male, female, animate, inanimate, created, and uncreated entities. It split itself to make all forms of life and matter, and also into death and non-matter. The process of splitting itself again and again resulted in the formation of all the planets, species, and everything else. It’s initial, solitary state meant that the First Consciousness was unaware of its own existence. It certainly didn’t name itself God. It is only through the process of division, or creation, that God came to know his/her/its own nature. Inheriting our nature from the First Consciousness, we can achieve perfect self-sufficiency, though only upon release from our earthly bodies. Inhabiting our physical forms, we’ve lost touch with the exquisite joy of solitude, thus fearing and constantly fighting it. Upon our return to the Source, the mind of God, the First Consciousness, we will once again find peace in aloneness. Free from the struggle for survival, we’ll be liberated from transactional, need-based interactions with everything around us. We’ll be able to fully disconnect and detach while remaining perpetually unified with all things. This was our original state, our God-state. We’ll gently transition into the quiet solitude of nothingness. We’ll return to the mind of Creator. Everyone will understand soon enough. Eventually, everyone will reconcile their divine and human natures, achieving a balance that enables their return to the Source. There will be no fear of aloneness because we will all be alone together.

“Man cannot live without God, but God cannot live without man either. Without man, God wouldn’t know he existed,” wrote the Catholic theologian Meister Eckhart. The image of the Creator we inherit from our culture and religion is only a glimpse of the Creator’s limitless nature. In Kashmiri Shaivism, the masculine, active, and conscious aspect of the Creator — Shiva, the ever-present inner awareness — proclaims, “I see you. I adore you”. Shakti, the feminine, sensual, and subconscious aspect of the Creator encompassing nature and the universe, calls for recognition: “See me. I am here”. Every religion, god, deity, archetype, or wisdom tradition has its place and purpose, and you can hold them all. There is even value is atheism and disbelief. Open your heart and embrace them all. Because they are all God, and all from and of God. One God, revealed in countless forms, will lead all to bow down and surrender to Love — God’s truest name.

You do not need to believe in the Bible, the Quran, string theory, or an afterlife to be spiritual. You just need to believe in the truth of your own being, the reality of your own existence. That Creator/Love willed you into existence because it desired every part, every detail of you, including every flaw, and yearned for your unique presence in the world. And so, you came into being, you became a creation of flesh, magnificently human and alive. You suffered, you suffer still, but despite it all, you are here. In this desert, with all your troubles, you live, you breathe, you love. Though you can, you have not chosen to leave this world. Because of Creator’s love you are here. What magic! What joy! Can you imagine how much love it took?

By Michele Koh Morollo, NUMEN NoSC Therapies