Connecting to Spirit is the best way I've found to have hope even in desperate times. But that means a lot of different things to different people. After studying love for 15 years, I have a definition for Spirit that might make you rethink some of how you're connecting.
Why This Post Is the Sixth
It's funny too, because Spirit is even speaking through the logistics of this post.
This morning in the shower, I was reflecting on a recent conversation I had about global anti-Blackness. The pastor I was speaking with said he thought there may be a connection to the Pentecost in Acts.
I've been pondering this point all week, and then the scripture from Genesis 1:27–31 came to my mind. The only part I recalled at the time was "created in the image of God," which brought to mind the white Jesus so many follow, and what the statement "Black woman is God" incites in some groups. I mean, Black woman is the image of God just as much as every other human, including white man, right? Why so much resistance to the idea?
Then I sat down to write this post for you, and noticed that this is the sixth post in this series, and this topic was also the sixth post in a different series I wrote about a similar theme.
So I decided to research the meaning of the number 6, which I recalled meant something about man in Biblical references, and definitely in the worst sense. In numerology, the number 6 often represents the balance between the material and spiritual, and signifies healing, selflessness, and unconditional love.
This illustrates my point about why I had to reach beyond Christianity to pull The Hart Habits together, because the meanings for the number 6 are both quite varied and totally related.
On the one hand, 6 represents the day, in the Bible story, that humans and all life on Earth were created. The Bible says both man and woman were created in the image of God. Everything else was also created that day, and humans were to rule the birds, sea animals, and every creeping thing, and to eat any plant or fruit tree that bears seeds. Let's hear it for the vegans, eh?
There's a big emphasis in Christianity that 6 is the number of man and represents imperfection, while 7 is the number of God, man plus 1, and represents perfection. Imperfection is the most important message in this context, and the predominant takeaway is unworthiness.
In numerology and secular number systems, 6 represents a balance between material and spiritual. It almost syncs up with the Biblical meaning, but instead of being a lack of something, it represents a bridge between one thing and the other, or a fulcrum for them to balance on.
It also illustrates how differently that scripture could be interpreted when the emphasis is on our connection to every other living thing on the planet and in the heavens, as opposed to our lack of God, which is 7, the day of rest, actually.
If we are in fact created in the image of God, that includes every human on the planet, right? So do we look like God, or does God look like us? Is God us? Is God them?
As you can see, this conversation can go on forever with no real conclusion that everyone is going to agree on. But after 15 years of studying love through the eyes of various disciplines, sciences, and storytellers, I came up with a definition that finally made sense to me. Hint: yes, God is all of us, and every single other molecule in the universe.
My Definition of Spirit
To me, Spirit, by any name, is the energy that flows between us all that causes each of us to manifest our greatest creativity.
As I moved through my journey to study love, I found there were specific behaviors or Habits I could engage in that would increase this type of energy flow in my personal relationships.
Then I realized I could also access this energy through connecting to the parts of our universe that have no choice but to operate in their greatest manifestation, things like nature in its native habitat, or the stars, moon, and galaxies.
Finally, I realized that by connecting to Spirit intentionally myself, and then making efforts to connect to others in the same way, I could increase this flow exponentially around me.
Get Quiet, Get Connected
What do I mean by connecting to Spirit intentionally? In a nutshell, it's a simple, though not easy, two-step process: get quiet, get connected.
Get Quiet
This part is super important, and probably the most difficult, because our society does not operate in a way that supports getting quiet or still. You've probably experienced hustle culture since you were in kindergarten, being rushed to learn how to read.
If being able to quiet your mind or sit still for a period of time sends you into a mini panic attack, you may need some actual sleep before you're ready for the type of quiet I'm talking about. That's okay. Get the sleep. Come back to this when you're rested and ready to move into your greatest with confidence.
If you understand what it means to get quiet, you'll recognize some of these as good ways to get there: meditation, by far my favorite, most difficult, and most effective method; yoga; silent retreats; prayer; tai chi; nature walks; swimming; gardening. There are so many more, and I'd love to hear yours, but this small list will give you a few options to try.
It's also worth noting this practice applies to every facet of life. In order to listen, we have to be quiet. Spirit is always telling us what we need to know and do to get our greatest outcomes, but we often can't hear it because we're too busy talking, or listening to the loudest messages in our face instead.
One of those very loud voices in the U.S. is white supremacy culture. It's been a cancer in this country since our conception, and it has tainted every aspect of our society and socialization. That's why you'll often hear me say "listen to Black women" and "follow Black femme leaders," because their voices have been the most silenced and marginalized in this culture.
When Spirit speaks, it's rarely a yell or a scream. Often it's a whisper. The quietest voice in your heart, telling you the hard but real truth. The kid looking at you with wide eyes to affirm or validate what they feel. That feeling in the pit of your stomach, or the flicker of a friend's face in your mind. The realization that you have privilege, and that you should use it to shield those who don't.
It can be blatant and open too, like a favorite song, or a commercial that keeps coming on at the right, or wrong, time.
Spirit constantly offers the wisdom, but it's always our choice to accept or reject the gift.
Get Connected
We accept and apply that gift of wisdom from Spirit by connecting to the other life forms we encounter, very intentionally.
I say life forms, as opposed to people, because I want us to expand our thinking beyond our spouse, our children, our parents, even beyond the humans we encounter each day at work, school, shopping, playing, and in our neighborhood.
Yes, connecting more intentionally and deeply with all these people will help connect you more deeply to Spirit. And also: the plants, insects, birds, and animals that live in your neighborhood, on your block, maybe in your walls, can be connections to Spirit as well.
Understanding how recycling programs work in your area, and what happens to your garbage when it leaves your hands, can connect you more deeply to Spirit.
Learning the links between water, wind, earth, fire, and indigenous practices, both your own people's and those of the people on whose land you live, can connect you more deeply to Spirit.
You might notice that when I talk about connecting with Spirit, I'm not talking about a lot of doing, but more about being, especially in a state of reception, gratitude, and celebration of everything around you and about you.
Being in relation with, and learning more about, everything that is not you, will benefit and feed your connection to Spirit.
Yes, this could even include going to church, temple, or some other religious or spiritual service. It's just not confined to those types of environments or events. Those are a few examples, out of millions, maybe billions, of ways we've been gifted to connect to Spirit.
Bringing It Back to Self
To bring this post back around to the original topic of the series, How to Have Hope in Desperate Times, connecting to Spirit is one of the ways I teach people to look in the mirror, or get reconnected to their Self, the very first Hart Habit.
If you're a white person who lives in the U.S., I highly recommend the specific activity of following Black femme leaders as a way to get more connected to Spirit, because it's a way to listen to the quieted voices in our society.
When I talk about being connected to Spirit, it's not really an inside activity. It's not about the meditation, or the prayer time, or how powerful we are as a spiritual individual, or exactly how we quiet our mind, but rather about what those practices will, or won't, cause us to contribute to our community with our resulting behaviors. It's about how that energy flows between you and others, and about what you're both giving and receiving energetically.
White supremacy culture taught us to take and take and take from the world around us, as if that was our birthright. But it forgot about the give. The time has come where the universe is about to force the give, because that's the nature of cycles. But you can be on the front end of that by learning how to give first. Then it won't hurt when that pendulum swings, because you'll already be aligned with it.
Being well connected to our Self is crucial to having what it takes to find hope. I'll dig into that further in my next post, but remember: you are your own greatest asset in every regard. You are one of a kind. There is no one else on planet Earth with exactly the same set of experience, genetics, or circumstance as you. You are the prototype, and your imperfections are exactly what make you perfect.
Talk soon. I love you.
Question of the day: How do you connect to Spirit?