Fundamentally, the purpose of spiritual practice is to remind us of who we are, to connect us with the world beneath the shallow images at the surface.
The paradox of being human is that we are both separate and connected. We are separate beings with hopes and fears and agency, and we are also enmeshed in a deeper network of beingness. These two aspects do not have equal power. Our primary being is our connection to each other, to the world and to Source. The separate self is secondary and serves as the vehicle we use to learn, grow, and navigate the larger world of being.
But we forget. Daily life distracts. The pressures of the world press in and poke our fears, causing us to defend or promote our self-interest. In a panic, our sense of separateness pushes forward and our feeling of relatedness recedes. We contract and harden, the walls of defense go up, our focus narrows. The rich depths of our connection flatten to a two-dimensional surface. Our capacity to perceive the spacious, connected aspect of our nature throttles back.
Spiritual practice strengthens our capacity to perceive the reality beneath the surface. When we loosen the shell, we expand into our full being and realize that the dimmed awareness of our separate self sees just a thin slice of our true nature. We remember the foundation; we immerse ourselves in the connection that feels like home. We wonder why we ever left.
I like to begin the day with a morning practice that helps me to submerge and remember. I rotate between several, here is one I call Greet the Morning. It reminds me of my immediate, conscious relationship with everything.
I start by orienting to my body and the physical space around me. I welcome everything that comes into my awareness with a greeting, either internal or spoken aloud: “Good morning body, hello hands, hello feet, how are you today? Good morning couch, hello window; welcome sunshine, it’s good to see you.” If you have one, you can greet the elements on your altar. If you can go outside, say hello to the trees and plants, rocks in your garden, the singing birds, any item that comes into your awareness.
I dwell on each and allow it to enter me. It’s not a perfunctory salutation, it’s an energetic hug that I want to savor. Consciousness, after all, is not sitting alone in my head looking out; it is a quality distributed across the Cosmos. What is this consciousness around me? How does it perceive me? How does my greeting deepen my relations with these other members of my larger community? When I ask, “How are you doing,” what is their reply?
My final greeting is to Spirit. “Welcome Spirit, I’m glad you are here. I’m open to see what the day holds for you and me.”
Greeting the Morning expands my awareness to a larger span, the depth below the surface. It reduces my self-centeredness and grounds me in relatedness.
That’s not a bad way to start the day.
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