Physical/spiritual overlap

On a whim, I decided to stop at a public beach access to catch the last few minutes (seconds) of the sunset yesterday on my way home.

Oh, how my life has changed since I was full-time with the SC Army National Guard just a few short years ago! 🇺🇸

I was in uniform Monday-Friday and adhered to as many of the customs and traditions as I could possibly manage; including the 5pm salute 🫡

If you found yourself still on post at 1700, the National Anthem was played, and for those few min, the world seemingly stood still 🪖

My current life has less structure, and while I’d say it’s a better fit overall (for my personality, health, skillset, etc. ..lol) I still appreciate my time in the Army and how I grew during those years.

I didn’t think about it until this morning, but the beach represents the overlap of the physical and the spiritual. There is an inherent undeniable relationship between the two, and when they collide, its impossible to differentiate between them.

We are spiritual beings having a physical experience, and to disown one or the other is incomplete and ultimately unsustainable.

Spirituality, when not embodied, serves only as an escape or bypass.

Physicality with no acknowledgment of our souls is mundane and vacuous at best. ..at worst, can devolve and default to the most unconscious crude primal urges with no acknowledgment of harm caused to other sentient beings.

Spirituality can serve to provide a context, a framework, and help us find meaning in our existence.

Example: when I feel stuck I try to zoom way out and seeing the big picture and considering how my little corner of the world fits into the whole, and how I am significantly insignificant in the grande scheme.

This perspective helps me navigate the physical realm and assists me in loosening the white-knuckle grip I can have on life if I’m not careful (shout out to all the other type A, firstborn, perfectionists lol 🙋‍♀️ 🙌).

The physical/material plain provides a container for our experience here. Our bodies give us form and boundaries and allow us to feel sensations.

The organization of time into days, weeks, and years helps us organize our internal world and get in synch with a rhythm of sorts.

How we reconcile the spiritual and physical is the dance of life, and maybe part of why we’re here 🤔