When I asked for guidance as to what to write for this month’s blogpost, I got “Fear Not.” I didn’t know if that was telling me to chill out or actually the topic I was to write on. I decided the latter, but who knows?
The topic I had been chewing on before this guidance(?) came was “humans as creatures” but I didn’t really have a point, so after this guidance(?) came, I thought maybe the two together could yield a dynamic synergy. Here goes…
Last week, when I stood in the long holiday line at the Post Office with only one clerk (!) available, like this...
The topic I had been chewing on before this guidance(?) came was “humans as creatures” but I didn’t really have a point, so after this guidance(?) came, I thought maybe the two together could yield a dynamic synergy. Here goes…
Last week, when I stood in the long holiday line at the Post Office with only one clerk (!) available, like this...
...I noticed something intuitively. As I was viewing a lot of people’s backsides, the intuitive hit I got was how “creaturely” the people were. They seemed more Hobbitish, or Elvish, or, animalish, than human, with idiosyncrasies, habits, and patterns I can only seem to call “creaturely.” Perhaps that’s why we describe some people as pack rats, piggish, bullish, and the like—because of the creatureliness that is in our genes and in our bodies. Humans, one of many kinds of earthlings, are linked to all other earthlings through a long descent from one-celled organisms, whether you call that creation or evolution or something in between. Our bodies made up of earth and of elements were at one time “one cell” and thus, we earth creatures' cells are all connected—we are all biologically linked in oneness. I tapped into that reality while looking at the backsides of several people. You never know what will trigger intuition!
That creatureliness of humanity got me to thinking of the holiday upon us that celebrates God coming as child, as human. Since my paradigm shift many years ago that sees everything at its core as divine, this incarnation holiday has lost a lot of impact. To me it’s no longer special that God is in only one person—I see and experience God in all.
However, the intuitive hit I got at the USPS of all places, brought some of that impact back. God as creature. God as animal. God as human animal with all the idiosyncrasies that brings, with all the wonderful things that brings (the unconditional love our animal companions demonstrate to us), and with all the complications that brings (instinctive fear.)
And thus, I spiral back to the Fear Not guidance(?) I mentioned at the beginning. We, as human creatures, have instinctive fear hard-wired into us as Nature’s way of keeping alive: running from prey, stampeding away from earthquake tremors about to strike, climbing up trees (walls?) to feel safer.
Perhaps this is why the angels and Jesus repeatedly said,
That creatureliness of humanity got me to thinking of the holiday upon us that celebrates God coming as child, as human. Since my paradigm shift many years ago that sees everything at its core as divine, this incarnation holiday has lost a lot of impact. To me it’s no longer special that God is in only one person—I see and experience God in all.
However, the intuitive hit I got at the USPS of all places, brought some of that impact back. God as creature. God as animal. God as human animal with all the idiosyncrasies that brings, with all the wonderful things that brings (the unconditional love our animal companions demonstrate to us), and with all the complications that brings (instinctive fear.)
And thus, I spiral back to the Fear Not guidance(?) I mentioned at the beginning. We, as human creatures, have instinctive fear hard-wired into us as Nature’s way of keeping alive: running from prey, stampeding away from earthquake tremors about to strike, climbing up trees (walls?) to feel safer.
Perhaps this is why the angels and Jesus repeatedly said,
whenever they gave guidance in biblical stories. Our instincts are to retreat, to be afraid when the unknown appears. Our creaturely selves can’t always help it.
Except that because we are also Divine Souls in addition to being earthlings, we can awaken to the Divine Within, and can then embrace a larger picture even when the human herd wants to react in fear to any perceived threat. (I may or may not be speaking about recent events that have many people wanting to blame specific religions, specific events, specific politics and keep us in fear.)
Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Do not be afraid. There is no need to worry. All is well. These are words we need to hear again and again as we grow the Divine Within to embrace and transmute all of our creaturely tendencies and habits, even fear, into Divine Creature—All Love. No Fear.
Have a Blessed Holy-Day Season!
Here's a beautiful story, "Claimed by a Wolf" that captures the idea of Divine Creature in Humans and Animals perfectly.
Except that because we are also Divine Souls in addition to being earthlings, we can awaken to the Divine Within, and can then embrace a larger picture even when the human herd wants to react in fear to any perceived threat. (I may or may not be speaking about recent events that have many people wanting to blame specific religions, specific events, specific politics and keep us in fear.)
Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Do not be afraid. There is no need to worry. All is well. These are words we need to hear again and again as we grow the Divine Within to embrace and transmute all of our creaturely tendencies and habits, even fear, into Divine Creature—All Love. No Fear.
Have a Blessed Holy-Day Season!
Here's a beautiful story, "Claimed by a Wolf" that captures the idea of Divine Creature in Humans and Animals perfectly.
From Never Cry Wolf, an Inuit song:
"I think over again my small adventures, my fears.
Those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing, the only thing:
To live to see the great day that dawns
and the light that fills the world."
"I think over again my small adventures, my fears.
Those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing, the only thing:
To live to see the great day that dawns
and the light that fills the world."
--
Monica McDowell is a dynamic speaker, author, and practitioner in alternative wellness and spirituality. She is the author of the award-winning, The Girl with a Gift, Confessions of a Mystic Soccer Mom, You are Light (internationally published by 6th Books in over 14 countries) and My Karma Ran Over My Dogma, and has the distinction of being the first ordained minister in America granted civil rights by a federal ruling. She lives in Seattle, Washington, USA, and can be reached at monica@monicamcdowell.com.
Monica McDowell is a dynamic speaker, author, and practitioner in alternative wellness and spirituality. She is the author of the award-winning, The Girl with a Gift, Confessions of a Mystic Soccer Mom, You are Light (internationally published by 6th Books in over 14 countries) and My Karma Ran Over My Dogma, and has the distinction of being the first ordained minister in America granted civil rights by a federal ruling. She lives in Seattle, Washington, USA, and can be reached at monica@monicamcdowell.com.
