Our Spiritual Genetics

Tags

expressions, genetics, mutations, spirituality

In high-school biology class, I was enamored by genetics, particularly Mendel’s experiments. The idea that one could selectively introduce specific traits (genes) into living beings (peas, in Mendel’s case) so that they could find subsequent expression in future generations was utterly fascinating to me. The further notion that these traits, once introduced into a species, would remain intact between generations, while finding dominant or recessive expression, was even more fascinating. For me, genetics gave new perspective to the term, individual expression.

Genetics provides the framework, the foundation for what we are given. Our inherited genetic code is something that we (apparently) cannot change. On the surface, this could be interpreted as a restriction of our freedom to choose. However, biology class also taught me that heredity is only one side of the coin. Our full individual expression is a function of our genetics and the second side of the coin, our environment. This is good news indeed, because it means that even though we may have been given a weak foundation, we still have the power of choice.

That choice is expressed in the environment that we choose. We cannot necessarily change the map, but we can choose the path, the destination and how we choose to travel. We may been born into a particular set of beliefs, values, even a religion (or lack of religion), and that is our “map”. Yet, our spiritual expression, our involution [inn(er-re)volution], need not be constrained our genetics. The choices of our associations, our communities, our personal practices reflects the type of house we build on the foundation that we are given.

But there is more. As we dig a bit deeper, and learn more about our genetics, and particularly our alleles (variations of a particular gene in a chromosome), we can gain greater awareness. For instance, we can learn why our eyes are a slightly different hue of black (or brown or blue) than those our siblings. This increased awareness can be used to mitigate the expression of some of our negative traits. With the choice of a better environment, we can alleviate or alleliate away our flaws. This is called epigenetics – by changing our genetic expression… we get closer to complete freedom!

epigenetics – the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself…

Maybe the (spiritual) giants (and Shakespeare) knew something that science is discovering just recently. The fault is not in our stars, our genetics. And even if we believe that our genetics are faulty, we have the choice to change our beliefs through our environment, and control how those so-called faults find expression. So, the question is – what do we truly believe? What is the expression of those beliefs creating within us? And if those beliefs are not creating world-brightening, full-spectrum-of-color expression(s), are we willing to change them?

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. I invite you to join us on Sunday, March 4th at 9amET/7:30pmIndia for our weekly chat on twitter in #SpiritChat – we will discuss “Spiritual Genetics” and more, as we unwind the double helix. Namaste. Kumud.

The DNA Double Helix – Foundation of our Genetics

On Thankful Expressions

Tags

expressions, gratitude, spirituality, thankfulness

And as I clutch my freshly-brewed cup of chamomile tea, feet dangling above the patio as I sit in the open door-frame of the morning room where the steps have gone missing as they are being repainted, it is still a balmy sixty degrees at 10pm on this mid-November Friday night…

I wonder if any more inordinately warm nights like this still remain on tap for this year, or is this it? The breeze that seems to pick up speed with every passing quarter hour as it increasingly rustles the leaves that are still green on some of the trees that have ignored the entreaties of autumn and refuse to turn for the home that is the earth below indicates that this may indeed be the case.

The clear skies glistening with stars are slowly being consumed by the clouds that are moving in swiftly, as if to make an honest person out of the forecaster who has had plenty of time to get it right this time! We seem to be losing degrees by the minute as autumn is going to have to yield to a brush with winter in the early hours of the morning, and rain and maybe even snow shall be upon us for the next week or so…

The voices of teenagers ring out clearly from the other side of the thicket of trees, a hundred or so feet away as the faint flickering of a bonfire that would be hidden in the thick of summer leaves now flickers through a wedge of the forest where the trees have carpeted the floor for a week or so now…

And among all of this, I reflect on thankfulness and its many expressions…

Am I grateful to be welcoming winter after having enjoyed a few unseasonably warm days so late into November? If so, how may I express this sense of gratitude? Am I grateful that the backyard that is already wet and muddy is going to be saturated even more by the cold front’s incessant rain? Am I grateful that there will be even more wet leaves for me to blow and rake over the next few days? Am I grateful that I will not see the four day old dwindling full moon shine its light through my bedroom windows and stir my dreams awake in the middle of the night as it is unable to penetrates the thick veil of clouds being spread over the sky by the storm?

But, you see, all of that is of the future… and when I choose to return to this moment, I am indeed grateful for the hint of coolness that wraps around my fingers that are wrapped around the warm mug of tea –

I am thankful for the leaf that bounces off my head into the morning through the open door and lands beside by hot water carafe, anchoring me into the moment –

I am thankful that the laughter of mother and daughter streams through the upstairs bedroom window that can still remain open due to the warmness of a moment of mirth shared by them –

I am thankful for the puppy who nuzzles behind me as he tries to squeeze his way out the door around me to go frolic in the backyard and say his own goodbye to autumn – and I am grateful that the clouds have parted just enough up above to reveal the tail of the little bear in the western skies

The expressions of thankfulness and gratitude are as many as the quarter hours that pass by – I just have to be present to this moment – it’ stillness, its near and distant sounds, its light and its lightness, its connection to the earth, the wind, the clouds, and the celestials…

Yes, a simple cup of tea on a warm November night quickly turning cold can become a beautiful expression of thankfulness, of gratitude, and more. And as some of us gather around the tables big and small this week, may we take a moment of grace to express our gratitude to and for each other, and for being together, in That moment of shared Joy.

Namaste.

Kumud @AjmaniK

Do join us on twitter on Sunday, November 20th at 9amET/2pmUTC and share your ‘Thankful Expressions’ – how do you express thankfulness to yourself and others? what (new) ideas for thankful expression may have you discovered and implemented recently? what thankful expressions extended towards you do you best respond to? And more…
I will brew the tea and some questions. You all bring some answers and goodies to share 🙂 Thank you for sharing, and reading my ‘stream of thought’ post for this topic!

Moon among Clouds – Thankful Expressions (photo by CA)