Give Attention to the Spiritual Life of Your Human Journey

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
- Lao Tzu

How do we know if spirit is real? How do we recognize its voice? How does it work within us?

Some people experience physical feelings when they “hear” their spirit. They feel shivers or goosebumps; they get a “gut feeling,” or a sense of calmness suddenly comes upon them. Others see images, visions and flashes of insight.

Author Pat Conroy said as much when he first encountered his prospective students on South Carolina’s Daufuskie Islands. Even though he lacked teaching experience and was not yet prepared, he knew immediately upon seeing them that he was meant to teach these children. they were “meant to be his students.” How did he know?

For many of us, we “hear” our spiritual voice. No one else hears it, yet the words surround us with an insightful message or words of protection that give us hope.

We can either accept or deny this voice. We all have spirit. It is individually and uniquely present in each of us, even if we choose not to recognize it.

People who live in industrialized societies live in a de-spiritualized world. Many adults have difficulty acknowledging the existence and importance of their own spirit and how to gain access to it. Some deny its existence. Some fear its presence. Some are uncomfortable at the mention of a spiritual connection. When I tell people that I am promoting Warren’s book on discovering your spiritual voice, many become uncomfortable and change the subject.

As we grow older, our culture suppresses spirit’s presence within us through our unique social biographies. One’s social biography is formed by the stories people tell you about yourself — about how to live, what they expect of you, the way the world works, etc. These stories include your knowledge, beliefs, values, attitudes and faith. Warren coined these attributes as “kbvaf.” We have come to believe so strongly in our kbvaf through the powerful mechanisms of socialization. This can be over protective and deprive us of learning from our own life experiences as we encounter them.

When we face painful times, conflicts and stressful events, we search for ways to solve these problems by limiting ourselves to our social biography, without including our spirit to help us work through these human circumstances. There comes times in our lives when events, and nonevents, can trigger questions about our existence. We question our purpose. We search for meaning. In our deepest self, we want a reason for living, a reason for being.

Our spiritual voice has a difficult time breaking down the barriers of our kbvaf.

It drags us down, especially when we need to make choices. It prevents us from being in control of our true selves. How do we cut through the complexity of what we have learned from others? How do we unlearn parts of our social biography that impede our movements to go forward?

We invite spirit back into our lives, our work and our relationships. Each of us has a unique calling that must be invited back into our space to confront the limitations of our social biography. So much or our social biography fights this understanding, but the scope and diversity or the human spirit is enormous if you listen.

Your spirit has chosen you to make its human journey. Listen to its voice. This is not make believe. It is not a fairy tale. Spirit is real. It is a very deep and living part of your inner realities. Unless you listen, your spirit’s voice goes unheeded. Learn to listen deeply to your body, your feelings, your images, intuitions and altered states of consciousness.

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