Hello! This Is The Divine Calling!

Visiting around the blogs recently, I’m struck by the synchronicities in introspection that I’m seeing.  My friend, Brigitte, wrote about sacred space this week and invited quite a lively, and lovely, conversation on the subject. My friend, Millie, seems to have created such a space of sacredness at her place in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I feel my friend, Eric, is exploring and revealing sacred spaces over on his blog, too.

The Cathedral Of St. John The Divine, viewed from Morningside Park

We are, each and every one of us, a perfect expression of the Divine.  We all spring from that primordial…spark? vibration? essence? I like to call it Self.  We are, each and every one of us, a perfect expression of Self having a human experience.  That is what I know.  As such, we are, each and every one of us, a sacred space. And we are all One.  The One is what each one expresses.  The One comes first, then the one.

Morningside Park

In our human experience, we forget that we are each an expression of Self.  In that forgetfulness, we think of Self as a glorified version of self. When we forget that we are each an expression of unlimited possibilities, we behave in ways that are limited and unkind to one another.  We suffer through our amnesia of our true nature.  We fear that we will lose all because we’ve forgotten that we already have, and are, All. When we remember that there is no separation, we are once more firmly connected to the sacred space. That remembrance is the key. Remembrance is a practice.

Morningside Park through the winter branches

My journey of remembrance began many years ago when, as a young teenager, I heard someone ask me “Did you know that there are religions not allowed by God?” What? I knew, from a place deep within, from the sacred space that I Am, from that space about which I’d forgotten, that statement had absolutely no basis in Truth. Over the years, I’ve used many tools and techniques in an effort to remember.  At first when I came to meditation, I was so caught up in the mechanics of the practice that I forgot what the practice was about, and for! Still the mind?  Yeah, right! I’ve used mantra repetition, affirmations, studying mystical writings, energetic healing, and many other tools to attain that state of “being” that I craved. All of these practices had to be fit into the structure of my real life.  After all, I’m here on this planet, I’ve got responsibilities and bills to pay.  All that being-ness stuff is very nice, but I have to be practical first.

The Avalon on Morningside Park

I’m a slow learner.  It took me a very long time of using these tools on and off to understand that the Self, the unlimited possibilities, is what makes it possible for me to take care of the practical.  I’d had it backwards all along:  it’s not pay the rent first and meditate when I have a chance, it’s connect to that unlimited and infinite Self and unlock the door to the possibilities of how the rent gets paid.  I’d had the cart before the horse all those years!

The view from Morningside Park

Even though I am a perfect expression of Self, I am, after all, having a human experience, and in my human experience, I have to do it my way!  Have you ever tied a string around your finger to remind you to do something? (And then forgotten what you were supposed to remember?) I decided that I would do something in my everyday life that would not take me away from my practical pursuits in living and would remind me of my true essence.  I started taking photographs with my cell phone.  Each photograph I take is a remembrance of Self.  It’s a mini-meditation.  It’s an expression of gratitude and appreciation for the life, and Life, I’m living. When I take pictures, I am profoundly connected to that eternal and primordial vibe we all share.  When I take pictures, I not only remember we are One, I KNOW we are One.

The Cathedral Of St. John The Divine

And when I don’t take pictures? There’s writing, drawing, dancing, singing, listening to music, cooking, and any number of creative endeavors that remind me of Self. And there’s always meditation, mantra repetition, affirmations, and the many other tools I’ve used for years; only now, I understand what they’re for and I use them more skillfully. This is how I Am my sacred space.  How about you?  What one practice can you incorporate into your life, with ease and joy, to be that remembrance touchstone?