Spiritual Breakthroughs
Have you ever thought about the numerous spiritual breakthroughs, the continual surprises and private evolutions we experience during our lifetimes? Some of them are subtle like one day we notice something different about ourselves but can’t put our finger on it. Other times we are more cognizant of the minute shift that may be occurring. Then at other times we are much more aware of a shift in our consciousness, they are thunderous, and usually arise following a traumatic event in our lives. It’s the rare person who makes the giant leap to spiritual heaven on earth. It’s usually the small incremental steps that define us.
I’ve written thousands of words about spiritual ideas over the past decade. I often wonder how I continually come up with new phrasings or vistas while writing about a subject as old as time. I continue to mine the mindscape that is unfathomably mine. I really don’t know anymore when my first breakthrough came; there have been so many of them.
I do know when the huge bumps occurred. Like shortly after joining Al-Anon and discovering God as I understood what it meant at the time. Or the course I took at Algoma University – Christ in the New Testament, and lost a ‘friend’ because of a marvellous revelation I excitedly shared with her late one evening – Yikes, she hung up the phone on me. Maybe my way of phrasing my discovery was circumspect but she sure wasn’t happy with me.
I’ve since determined there is a huge difference between organized religion and spirituality. And, both have their rightful place in this magnificent universe we inhabit. It was during this time, I began to keep my exciting revelations quiet – I didn’t like being told I was a heretic, or, that I had no clue about God, and on, and on, and on. But that didn’t stop me from writing about some of my breakthroughs.
Perhaps the breakup of my marriage was the final catalyst that began the transformation of my life. I did not believe in divorce and here I was divorced and with all the trauma and challenges and obstacles that presents along with that. Prior to that severe depressions and disabling illnesses left me unable to care properly for my children, or to cope with a world of chaos happening within my home.
I now view these various bouts with major illness and depressions, the dark nights of my soul, as spiritual breakthroughs and there have been many. Meditation has been the greatest gift I’ve received over the past few years.
At this point I feel my spiritual Being is coming into its own. Actually all of my life is spiritual – even the not so hot events that present themselves. We are all spiritual. We are born spiritual Beings, we live as spiritual human Beings, and we leave this earthly plane as spiritual Beings. Now isn’t that a revelation.
God is my true life. God leads me; God trails me; God holds me in the arms of spiritual love. The continual givingness of God is outstanding! It is streaming, flowing, standing forth in the middle of all my activities and accomplishments. God simply is! And for this I AM so very grateful.
‘til next time...this is Joan
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin a French Jesuit, scientist, and philosopher.
Joan Brooks is a free-lance writer who lives in Wawa, Ontario. She welcomes comments and can be reached through joanbrooks@shaw.ca or 705-856-0652.
