On Discovering Essence

Tags

awareness, challenges, essence, essentials

What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday, an early morning storm with a lot of rain and electrical activity, tripped the breaker on the sump pump in the basement. The battery backup pump, which I thought was working, but hadn’t tested lately, didn’t work. The result was a minor flood in the finished basement, and a day of phone calls to insurance and restoration companies. Oh well, we needed new flooring and carpeting in the basement anyway.

Later that night, I evaluated how my wife and I responded to this “life event”. In the big scheme of things, we determined that we “got off easy”. Yes, it was inconvenient that our weekend had been disrupted, but at least we were home, and managed to minimize the damage (the main pump kicked right back on after I reset the switch :)). Yes, we needed to reevaluate our emergency systems in the basement and the home in general. And the greatest revelation from the evaluation?

We got a new perspective on what is truly essential, on what it is that defines our essence. There is a lot of ‘old stuff’ in our basement that has been with us through two moves over fifteen years. How much of it is essential to our lives? And, as I delved a bit deeper over the past week, I asked myself some more questions.

What is it that defines my essence? How do I know what is truly essential to me in a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level? Some of the answers have been filtering through me, and my exploration with the question(s) continues.

On Earth Day (two days after ‘the event’), I went walking my favorite trails. I often find that I have to make a conscious choice to accept the invitation to walk. The call is often so strong that the car seems to self-drive itself to the park on the way to work. So, I deem that walking the forest is essential to me. I have found that there is prose and poetry that flows through me as son as I step onto the trails. Here’s a sample:

Find your trail and walk

She will welcome you with open arms

From the tiniest of flowers hugging crocuses

To the tallest of trees holding birdsong

Her gifts will shower down upon you

Amid the remembrance – that her greatest gift is birth…

So, one way to connect with our essence may be through those actions that bring us face to face with unmitigated peace and joy. The world around us recedes like the floodwaters after the storm, and we can feel the essence of the tiniest of flowers, the freshness of new greenery emerging, the calming presence of tall trees gently swaying in the breeze, the river gurgling by past the boulders in the valley where it has been flowing for millennia.

What is the essence of our mental state? Is it our intellect? Is it intelligence and our power of discernment? We all have thoughts that swirl like eddies, or the thoughts are stirred by fresh emotions that cause highs and lows? The temporary nature of their existence surely means that they cannot be essential, right?

Awareness of our mental and emotional essence can be unfolded for us in physical stillness. Being still is not easy for many of us. Stillness is an essential that often needs to be cultivated. That which makes us still gives us the opportunity to connect to higher awareness – we can become observers of our mental and emotional states. As observers, we can then find our essential That by saying – it is not this, it is not this.

Allow me to posit that once we have found the trail to our physical, mental and emotional essences, and know how to (re)connect with them, our heart is ready to receive the spiritual essence. The invitation to receive then comes through clearly. We then awaken every morning, ready to receive the essence with joy, peace, silence and stillness, as we watch the source of light reveal itself to us in our heart filled with love.

We arrive at the awareness that the same spiritual essence energizes all of us, gives us life, and yes, a return to a dry basement…

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us Sunday, April 28 at 9amET as we resume our weekly twitter chat in #SpiritChat ~ I will bring the essential tea and cookies. I invite you to bring your favorite flavor of essence. Namaste – Kumud

On Spiritual Essentials

Tags

essence, essentials, focus, spiritual practice

What is essential to life?

This question came to the forefront over the past few days. I was able to put together a string of walks in the local metro-parks this week, on many of my favorite trails. As I walked, this question came more and more into my heart’s front. What is essential for us to thrive? How do we separate the essential wheat from the seemingly inessential chaff?

One thing became clear. The sun is essential. There is no growth in nature without sunlight. The easiest way to kill growth is to shut off their supply of sun. No sun, no synthesis. Such is the truth of terrestrial plants. As humans, we often tend to shrivel, if not perish without the warmth that the energy of the Sun provides to us. This is not to say that solitude is inessential, for even in solitude, we are often seeking the light and warmth of our inner Sun.

What else? Water is essential. A clear flowing stream supplies a pure energy to everything that it touches, and inspires growth. Growth can and does happen in muddy, stagnant waters too, but it often requires much more energy than clean, clear waters. Water is known as the great cleanser, and many of us have a natural affinity to it. It is perhaps one reason why so many human civilizations tend to be located near rivers. Abundance flows in their vicinity.

Clean air is essential. Flora and fauna thrive better in the absence of pollution. The beauty of a flower that shines in the sun by the river, would surely be lot less joyful if it were covered with soot. Humans are the same way. The less ‘pollution’ that enters our mind, the less ‘cleaning’ we may have to do on a daily basis. Our heart’s filters are constantly being clogged by the soot of fear, anger, hate, and mistrust. We could all benefit from ‘clearing the air’.

I think you get the idea. The essential ‘things’ are those that keep the mind and the heart clear, so that we can absorb, grow and thrive in the supply of life-enriching air (thoughts), water (emotions) and sunshine (light). There are many other essentials, and we often only become aware of them when we feel their absence. Can you think of a few ‘essentials’ that have gone ‘missing’ in your life lately? When life’s ‘inessentials’ start to consume much more energy than the ‘essentials’, what is the result?

One result of forgetting what is essential is ‘conflict’. This message was delivered to me during a conversation with a respected elder this week. We were talking about the origin of ‘conflict’, and she said ~ “Conflict happens when we do everything but That which is essential”. It’s often easy to get mired in the inessential, for that is often the way of the ‘world’. It takes self-discipline, discernment and focus to stay true to, and act on the essentials of the ‘inner world’. The flower blooms, the flame burns, as long as it stays connected to the essentials.

May we stay connected to That essential, and thrive,

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join our twitter community for our weekly conversation, Sunday September 23rd at 9amET / 630pm India. We will discuss the role of “essentials’ in our life, and how we can stay focused on them in our (spiritual) life. Namaste.

Life’s Essentials… Essence of Life