Assbackwards Spirituality 1: Spirit

Here’s the thing. Most of us believe in a world of things. In other words, our understanding of the basic structure of the universe is a material one. The world is constructed from the basic building blocks of atoms, and it is a tangible one, physical, rock hard.

The story continues. From this material world, somehow, through the physical evolution of a brain and central nervous system, strange material concoctions of chemicals and electricity, consciousness appears (they’ll get back to you on exactly how this happens because no one really has a clue). And there you go. This is the meta-paradigm of western civilization. This is the backbone of our relationship with it and everyone in it. We are material girls and boys.

But all perennial wisdom says we have it assbackwards.

There is a quote by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin which attempts to explain this mistake with a nice turn of language: “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” It’s actually a pretty good approximation of that assbackwardsness I speak of, but too often it’s just seen as something pretty.

Because to truly understand this difference would literally change your world. Your meta-paradigm would literally shift. Imagine what happens to the earth when its poles perform such a shift. Not only do weather patterns change, but climates go haywire.

This new meta-paradigm simply says all is consciousness. Everything is literally spirit! And what we experience as the material is but an appearance in consciousness. In other words, first and foremost, one and only, is consciousness, not some material construction. And then the material appears from out of that. (No one has to get back to you on how consciousness appears from the material because it doesn’t!)

This is a revolutionary understanding! Your mind will be blown. The Gospel of Thomas says it this way: “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished…”

to be continued with more mind-blowing truth and consequences