Category: Spirituality

Our bodies evolved in a gravitational environment. We can’t “see” gravity, so we forget about it, but we can’t live without it. Gravity keeps our oxygenic atmosphere conveniently outside our noses. It draws rain to soil so plants that sustain us can flourish. Every earthly creature depends on it. It’s a constant force that surrounds us like a cozy blanket. As we move through this world, the energy we exert that is necessary to counteract the tug that it exerts helps us make new cells to rejuvenate our bodies. To fulfill livelongfeelgood, we need to stay upright and mobile for as long as we can. That means we need to engage with gravity and use it as a tool to strengthen our muscles. But it’s also a force that continuously pulls us downward, until we ultimately succumb at the end of our lives and allow the earth to envelope us.

Gravity can be thought of as a god-given force that protects us and nourishes us. We are never without it. Gravity has been there since the beginning of time. It exists throughout the vast universe. “Gravity” has the qualities of a benevolent, timeless, omnipresent god. Every time our foot hits the ground, every breath we take, every time we see birds fly or enjoy a babbling creek, we can be grateful for this presence.

I recently had the opportunity to see an interview with Barrack Obama and Trevor Noah. One of the things they discussed was the recent decline of democratic governments around the world. In USA we have seen increased divisiveness and mistrust of our elected officials, with threats to our democracy. There’s also a coincident trend in USA toward atheism.

The basis of earliest religion is a moral code that accounts for tolerance and respect of others, and ensures a reward if the gods are worshipped. These beliefs, in different variations created trust and provided a survival benefit for our early ancestors. Subsequent monotheistic religions became more dogmatic and preached guilt and original sin.

The increasing lack of consequence for immoral behavior of people in power, as well as the history of violence and oppression under the flag of religion can account for the trend toward atheism. As organized religion is deconstructed, is the argument for “doing the right thing” for your fellow sapiens at risk of being discarded? Is the decline of organized religion a good thing? Perhaps there’s another reason to act compassionately. Our continued survival requires interdependency among our species. We can’t survive without the help of our fellow human beings. We’ve evolved from individuals to tribes of hunter gatherers, to agricultural settlements with division of labor, to our current status of a relatively comfortable life with the help of teachers, doctors, manufacturers, laborers, and distribution experts. As we continue to evolve, let’s rely on a fundamental spirituality and logical thinking as we go forward to build our best future. 

I’ve had several discussions with religious scholars who are on a journey of enlightenment, who seek true peace through knowing god. They often refer to the “sonship” in their discussions. As we were reading a text out loud, this word was contained in a sentence. I was amazed to discover the spelling was different from what I had interpreted. I had always thought of the word as “sunship,” which beautifully explains the concept that we are one with the sun, attached inextricably by gravity, hurling through space as a unit. According to nasa.gov, the sun travels at about 450,000 miles per hour around the center of our milky way galaxy, and we are all on board with the sun as our vessel. 

It was explained to me that “sonship” refers to a kinship with god as part of a family. The slightly different concept of “sunship,” that is, knowing god through an awareness and appreciation of the power and vastness of the universe, provides a tantalizing version of this explanation. 

What is God? That depends upon whom you ask. To some people, God is the omnipotent prescience, the ultimate creator with which we can communicate and interact. To others, God does not exist. Some people even say humans created God to fulfill a need to explain the things we do not understand. Is there something we can agree on as a species that supports the general concept of god? Perhaps, we can at least come to a consensus that god is an extension of the consciousness of homo sapiens, specific to our species. Our curious minds have the capacity to problem solve. That gives us a unique and intriguing opportunity to explore the history of our species and our relationship with god as we evolved.