Spiritual Autobiography

Lyrics: Deep peace of the running wave to you/ Deep peace of the flowing air to you/ Deep peace of the quiet earth to you . . .

I was raised in a secular environment.  As a young girl my mother went protesting to her baptismal emersion in the frigid waters of the Spokane River and perhaps that was all it took to account for her avoidance of religion the rest of her life.  My father was heavily influenced by his mother’s core belief in the healing teachings of Christian Science.  I recently came upon documents revealing that my ancestral maternal roots were mired in Mormon polygamy.

I’ve never considered myself religious and today there is a category for ones like me: Spiritual.  Even before The Word, before I knew it or even cared to know about it, I was a spiritual seeker and a skeptic at the same time.  I was curious about the Big Mystery, not rejecting of it.  Like so many, what I rejected was institutional church dogma.  My spiritual curiosity went through stages: believing what adults said was the Truth and then as an adult rejecting what authorities said was the Truth.  I went from knowing everything to realizing that there are many layers of Truth, confusing layers, and no one has a corner on the TRUTH, including me.

While I’ ve learned a great deal from many theologians of various faiths and persuasions, without a doubt my greatest spiritual evolution has come through the practice of Healing Touch, a form of energy medicine.  Before I could actually feel another’s energy field I could sense something powerful and it was way outside my box of reality and my comfort zone.  I learned to feel the presence of that great Force, to be a conduit of His/Her Love because, as we were taught, the healing energy doesn’t come from us but through us.  The more acute the need, the more dramatic the healing.  I have witnessed miracles, enough to know from experience that “there’s more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, that are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  (Shakespeare’s Hamlet)

Are you religious?  Are you spiritual?  Can you be both at the same time?  Does it matter?  Who or what has been your greatest spiritual teacher?  Have your beliefs changed over the years?  What happens when we die?  What Truth will sustain you through your final passage?

Dan Wakefield’s book, The Story of Your Life; Writing a Spiritual Autobiography, challenges me to write my spiritual story, a memoir of the spirit.  I look forward to discovering and re-discovering the Truth.

Lyrics: Deep peace of the shining stars to you/ Deep peace of the son of peace to you.  (Ancient Scottish prayer recorded by Simon de Voil and available on YouTube.)

Creepy or Cozy?

Lyrics: Cuddle up a little closer lovey mine/ Cuddle up and be my little clinging vine.

Years ago I attended a conference of the American Holistic Medical Association and sat down next to a woman I didn’t know.  While waiting for the presentation to begin, this unknown woman picked up my hand and began a gentle massage.  I acted as though it was the most natural occurrence for a stranger to silently massage my hand and delighted in the feel of it, the nurturing comfort.  I mouthed a silent thank you when the presentation began and she released my hand, learning later that she was an OB  physician.

That’s one scenario.  Here’s another.  You’re in a room with a bed and lots of pillows being cuddled by a total stranger.  Cuddling has been identified as a new trend with people paying “certified” cuddlers for their services; $45 for 30 minutes.  Cuddle Clubs are opening up across the country and some are holding (pun intended) cuddle parties.  I was sharing this bit of trivia with a friend over the holidays and her reaction said it all, “That’s so sad.”  There is something sad about paying a stranger to hold you, a cuddle prostitute of sorts.  In one poll, people were asked if they’d use the services of a Cuddle Club.  33% said they would and 67% said “no way.”  As you might suspect this is a youthful trend; the millennials coming up with an innovative way to meet their needs for connection with others.  Is this sad or does the idea just take some getting used to?

Tactile stimulation is essential to good health; touch is therapeutic and touch is healing.  In his book, Touching, Dr. Ashley Montagu writes about touch and age.  “Tactile needs,” he writes, “do not seem to change with aging — if anything they seem to increase.”   Elders often live alone, even when surrounded by people in a retirement home, because of divorce or widowhood and living a distance from family members.  Is there an alternative to paying for strangers arms to hold us.  Certainly dogs fill that need for many or cats purring in their laps.  The Eden Alternative recognized that need and introduced dogs and parakeets to the retirement/nursing home setting.  (See the May 2015 posting, Quality of Life.)

Elders probably aren’t the best candidates for Cuddle Club membership and yet so much of their touch often comes from professional caregivers.  Maybe the millennials have something to teach us about the importance of getting needs met even if the means are unusual.  The question is, can we elders come up with an alternative to Cuddle Clubs to get our touch needs met?

Lyrics:  Like to feel your cheeks so rosy/ Like to make you comfy cozy . . .                              (Songwriters: Karl Hoschna and Otto A. Harbach.)