This is a story about life amongst billions of other stories. We each have the power to choose what will be our story. This tale is about one, tiny, separate part tumbling into the awesome beauty and effervescent joy of wholeness. The zenith of human endeavor surely must be the unrestricted embrace of the Creator: Spirt, Divine Being, Godhead of all existence.

Spirituality is the reality of Cosmic Consciousness, an ever-present fact of eternal existence. Within a single human life, spirituality expressed becomes a conscious choice made on a daily basis. Every living being on earth carries the imprisoned splendor of Divinity.

The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we ingest are Mother Nature’s sacred conduits carrying life-sustaining streams of Cosmic Beingness. The human response, through body absorption, is automatic and unremarkable. Yet, our level of conscious awareness can be chosen, intentioned, and deliberately directed. We are the only living species born with free will.

Free will is a uniquely human characteristic; but it is not free. Development requires payment. When we are born, free will lies in a dormant state as a sleeping seed buried within consciousness. Free will, which is the power to choose, can be awoken and harnessed by nurturing an ability for critical thought.

Critical thought is not the curtailment or absence of feeling; but rather, the elevation of emotions onto a higher octave of expression. Common sense, reason, and empathy become the spiritualized off-spring of a developing and unifying consciousness directed at the vast, sweeping wholeness of Life.

Currently, humanity is drowning in a roiling sea of erratic and shifting feelings being glamourized by the reward of instant gratification, at the expense of vision and creativity. This is not a world where critical thought flourishes. This is a world imploding upon itself, because of the mass dissemination of hyperbolic misinformation. Humanity’s emotional vulnerability is being undermined by outright lies. Deny, deflect, and distract has become the favored mantra of dictators everywhere, because it fuels public confusion and inaction.

Yet, Humanity has the agency to stop and reverse this global trend. Dictatorship is an aspirational ambition. As long as resistance exists, then power is not absolute. As long as opposition remains strong, then control is not guaranteed. This current tide of human suffering can be reversed and righted with a unified global voice of public pushback.

Every human life begins with the sentient feeling of existence. A sensation of presence within the physical realm confirmed through the five human senses. As we grow into adulthood, our emotions multiply and expand until the individual self reaches critical mass; and stands separate and apart from all others. Spirituality is the long journey back to Wholeness, the Oneness of existence.

Every feeling in the human kingdom carries a communique from the soul, the messenger of Divinity. Each emotion experienced uncovers the light of individual consciousness and will align with one of two worldviews. The human form is exquisitely designed to survive; and this instinct for survival dominates most waking moments. Yet, each worldview defines survival differently.

Fear-based survival is confined to the material world. Faith-based survival perceives the continuity of all life, the fleetingness of a single life, and the entire unseen spiritual reality as the creative source of all in existence.

When we perceive danger, the adrenalin rush of fear is instantaneous. When we perceive safety, the relaxing quietude of faith is automatic. These two human feelings, of fear and faith, are ingrained responses to fluctuations in perceptions; and they embody the entire spectrum of human feelings. Perceptions lead; emotions follow.

Love, joy, excitement, contentment all issue from a foundation of faith in someone or something. Anger, jealousy, frustration, discontentment are the offshoots of fear in someone or something.

Most of us have two polarizing voices simultaneously chattering away inside our minds, impacting both feelings and body language. One is hyper and loud: fear; the other is calm: faith. These two world views are in a constant state of fluid tension. Two vastly different lines of force demanding validation.

When we understand that feelings are reactions, effects created by perceptions, then we begin to question what and how we are perceiving. Very quickly, we discover the power of thought, the cause of all emotions.. Are the perceptions fear-based or founded in faith? Do we promote a world-view of separate parts? Or, do we believe in a unifying wholeness to Life?

Creating a spiritualized consciousness begins with thinking in wholes. In or out of the physical realm, the ever-evolving currents of Life exist; creative change is life’s constant companion. Life’s essential goodness lies within this deep knowing of its very Eternalness.

Life goes on because there is no end. When this thought is actually explored, consciousness begins to expand and the imprisoned splendor within awakens. With the eyes of Soul, Life is seen anew. A natural by-product of this perceptual shift is the emergence of good governance.

Good governance is not the exclusive domain of countries. Good governance is the ability to see self and Life in right proportion; and to deliver an honest appraisal of the ‘state of affairs’. This applies to individuals and families, as well as communities and nations, in equal measure. Within the vast web of life, we all carry obligations by virtue of the privilege of being alive.

In the future, when historians speak of this terrible period in human history, perhaps they will refer to it as ‘The Great Awakening’. A time when people of vision and creativity began to come together and say no to the forces of subjugation. We will not journey backwards; Life is forwards.

A shining moment when the resources of land, water, and air were stripped away from the forces of authoritarianism, reclaimed by the peoples of Earth, and placed under protective ownership for the benefit of all planetary life.

National borders would no longer be vulnerable to the indignities of aggressive invasion, because an attack on one would be globally recognized as an attack on all. The value of Life would surpass the greed of domination.

A lighted era of group empowerment would give credence to the dignity of life, and shun the hyperbole of individual self-promotion. Those who suffer from the aspirational ambition of dictatorship would be labelled ‘pariah;’ yet, provided with an opportunity to pursue serious counseling. The redemptive flame of reconciliation is eternally lit.

Shallow personalities would fade from public view, because the power inherent in speech would be understood as carrying accountability for impact. Comedic relief for a human kingdom in transition would be welcomed as a soothing balm.

Deep thinkers would provide the lighted resonance of a hard-won wisdom. Leaders of integrity and compassion would be entrusted with elevating democratic principles to a higher plateau for planetary benefit. Such a time as this would give birth to a new age of spiritualized politics for the betterment of all mankind.

When Humanity honors the Light within, we all will travel a wide path to possibilities unimaginable and worlds unseen. And we will all one day awaken in the land of irrepressible Joy. All it takes is Humankind’s deep thought and the Will-to-Good.

In the classic words of Robert Browning’s poem, Paracelsus, “There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness; and, to know, rather consists in opening out a way whence the imprisoned splendor may escape…”