Wednesday, January 30, 2013

In Love and The Sacred Spirit

Yesterday, Gayle wrote in her blog OneBirdWatching.blogspot.com "God wants to reveal Himself to each one of us; He wants direct, Spirit-to-spirit communication with us.  He wants the kind of energy-exchange that most of us will truly experience only when we fall deeply and sincerely in love for the first time.  He wants openness, not fear.  He wants us to be able to open our hearts fully to Him, as lovers exchange freely and fully all that is in them without fear --- and He wants us to be able to hear fully and freely what He has to say to us."

I am so fortunate to have finally found that love experience about which she speaks. I believe that many people actually experience it for the first time in their relationships with their parents. I've often admitted openly that I'm absolutely "in love" with my children and grandchildren. Our relationships, as does my relationship with my mate, only work when we are vulnerable to each other, emotionally naked, if you will.

The great sin of religions, in my opinion, has been inflicting of shame and fear where nakedness had been. You can argue that Adam and Eve started it, but religions have continued this method of mind control. As a child, I was in awe of my parents and grandparents, and I didn't have to be made afraid to strive to please them. If they were open with me about their emotions, I  made every attempt to make them happy with me.

The Roman church taught fear of God instead of awe and bonding with The Sacred Spirit. They taught that an angry God sends us to damnation forever if we don't sacrifice enough to Him. They even taught that God created a sacrificial son in order to feed His own need to punish sin. They took it upon themselves to take away the bread and wine that they declared was Jesus' body and blood as a punishment for our transgressions.

I made up my mind a long time ago that I would not be manipulated by fear. The gut-wrenching grief that I feel when I'm rejected because of this may appear as anger to some, but when the soul breaks open again and again it causes unimaginable agony. The labor pains of rebirth of oneself and one's relationships can be as painful for both communicants as the physical birthing process of our children.

Thankfully, The Sacred Spirit has continued coming my way through so many people that I have never been able to completely despair.