Early on in my personal spiritual navigation, trying out lots of different modalities, teachers, experiences, I heard of the metaphor of the upside-down pyramid. In the pyramid of life, spiritual connection is at the top. It is the pinnacle of the life experience. It is the highest purpose of life, because it provides the deepest meaning. However, below that pinnacle is the rest of life, the rest of human experience, spreading out below our apex soul purposes, creating a grounded foundation to rest upon. Our spiritual connection needs all the supports of our physical reality, including basic physical needs like shelter and food, and more nuanced needs like social connectivity and creativity. The way we do all of these foundational systems either supports or hinders our spiritual growth. So, the way we take care of our bodies, the way we interact with our communities, the way we challenge ourselves, all has a hand in elevating how we engage with our spirituality. The lesson is to not be the upside-down pyramid. In this case, when you are single-mindedly focused on just your spiritual journey at the expense of all of those foundational systems, you are resting your entire being on a little, fragile point, balancing everything else on top of something that is inherently ungrounded. You will fall. You will lose your footing. You will end up working against yourself, in order to maintain that tippy-toed balance.
Where has this shown up for you, in your life? We are all susceptible to neglecting or ignoring things that don’t relate to what we are passionate about. When this is your spiritual connection, however, you are missing the mark.
I’m not really sure what spirituality without humanism is. If your sense of being connected relies on isolation, separation, and judgment, then it’s not connection anymore. Every single living thing is wrapped up in the spiritual. You on your worst day are still a spiritual being, although you may not see that or feel like it. So, is it a good idea to put all of your energy into the perfection of your spiritual being only? Or is it better to be well-rounded in your life experience so that you make your spiritual connection easier to find, to meet, to maintain?
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