As we stepped through the doors of the large grocery, I told my friends that I needed to get some chapstick and would meet them back at the car. Some time later, and apparently quite some time later, Chalazon came to find me. I was standing in front of the shelves of lip balms barely able to comprehend why I was there, let alone navigate the many choices available and make a decision.

This might sound like an experience from the 60s. In fact, it happened only a few years ago. And there were no drugs involved. We had just returned from a prayer vigil in the high desert. Several days of singing, dancing, praying, and fasting. And we were altered. Prayer vigil events are pretty common in my spiritual community and I’ve grown accustomed to the massive shifts that occur when I move from an immersion in spiritual energy to the secular world. OK. Perhaps not entirely accustomed. But at least I can anticipate a major harmonic disruption.

However last week, as I stepped away from several days of spiritual focus and sanctuary here at MossTerra, I experienced the same thing. I hadn’t been completely away in the desert. Many of my daily rhythms were much the same. I just didn’t anticipate how altered I was. I didn’t realize how completely I had integrated with spiritual energy. Encountering the secular was brutal. As spiritual immersion had been my objective for the sanctuary time, I was delighted. I was also profoundly appreciative of new insights relative to moving between and integrating these energies. The challenge becomes holding onto a spiritual energy and moving through the world intact. Or, to paraphrase Kipling, keeping your spirit when all about you have lost theirs.

Touching the divine, tapping into our spiritual nature, is one of life’s most profound experiences. But it’s not always easy. And it’s not simple. Certainly not as simple as the Facebook memes would have us believe.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com