Many years ago I asked myself the question: Am I a man looking for some sort of spiritual enlightenment or am I a spiritual being having a physical experience? I later found out that Pierre Teilhard de Chardin asked that same question years earlier, but the question changed my life as I worked through the implications of the question. Considering that my body has a finite life span and my spirit existed before my body was born and leaves after my body dies, I had to conclude that the true essence of who I AM is spiritual rather than physical. I explored this in great detail in my book 'Graduating Life with Honours' which is free to download and read.
By concluding that I AM a spiritual being and I am responsible for looking after this physical vessel gifted to me, I'm confronted with what my body is and how to have a healthy, balanced relationship with it. I've worked hard to eat healthy food, exercise and look after it to the best of my ability. After all, it is the vessel that my spirit uses to interact in this physical realm, making it a sacred temple for my spirit. It is the conduit for gathering as much experiences as possible while in this physical realm.
But that relationship goes far deeper than I originally anticipated. While in ceremony receiving a feather and spirit name, the elder said something to me that rocked my world yet again. He told me 'You are the land'. When he first said it, I did not comprehend at all what he was talking about. It took two years for me to even catch a glimpse of the implications of those four words and I am confronted with exploring those implications for the rest of my life.
The point I was missing was that my body / vessel has a deep and profound relationship with the land. I realized that all the nutrients for my body came from the land, whether that is in the form of air, water, minerals, plants or animals. My body needs the land in order to maintain the building blocks of my body and to keep it warm during the winter. When my body dies, it then is returned to the land so that its nutrients can be recycled to feed the living.
There are numerous creation stories that explain this relationship and I then remembered the story I read in Genesis 2:7 'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.' The dust of the ground is our body, the breath of life is spirit, together it creates the essence of who I AM in this present form, a living soul.
So the elder was right, while we are here in possession of our physical vessel, we must recognize that the relationship goes far beyond the boundaries of the skin and intertwines with every other organism on this planet. That is why the indigenous use the term Mother Earth. They recognize the relationship with their bodies to the Earth and why it must be shared. Many people may be aware of the conflict between the indigenous and the Crown regarding land.
Most people fail to see this connection with Mother Earth, so they have no issues with purchasing titles thinking that they own the land. The Crown claims ownership over the land and individuals purchase titles which is nothing more than a feudal grant from the Crown to that individual to possess the land, not own it. Check your title, you are listed as a tenant! Rent is due and payable each year in the form of property taxes. The Crown is the land lord and we have allowed a foreign entity to get between us and the land. This is what some of the indigenous people are objecting!
The misinterpreted concept of 'ownership of land' is a socially acceptable and is the foundation for much of the wealth that people have within their portfolios and all the poverty as well. By removing our bodies from the land and installing land lords as intermediaries within those relationships, we surrender our responsibility to somebody else and ended up creating the global elite.
The indigenous elders recognize this relationship and have always objected to the idea of land ownership. Why? Because our bodies are the land. By owning land we place everyone into involuntary slavery and create poverty as people no longer have access to land to provide for all their needs. We are now forced to work in order to pay the land lord. What makes matters worse is that the land lords have ended up being the fictional constructs that we created, turning all our relationships up-side-down.
To fix these relationships, Spirit must reassert itself as the highest authority. That means it is up to each individual to stand up, recognize who they are and set healthy boundaries for their relationships on this planet. When a spiritual being takes full responsibility and accountability for their vessel, it requires that they also ensure that the land is available for them to provide for ALL of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. No middle men, no Crown, no land lord, no rent, no excuses, nobody to blame!
The implications of this choice is significant as it is a paradigm shift not easily made. But it is possible and most critical to make as the fictional constructs (governments & corporations) of the world are clamping down and will soon own all the titles and enslave the world. We can usurp that plan by building healthy relationships with our bodies and the land with which they all belong and recognizing the true relationship and that it is our own imagination that got between us and the land.
The trick is setting healthy peaceful boundaries and helping those who are lost in the fiction to realize the mistake and help them make the transition as well.
I AM the land. I refuse to be placed into involuntary slavery. I accept full responsibility and accountability for all the needs that my body has. I refuse to burden other people with that responsibility or engage in violence with them to acquire the resources. I will work hard to be a good steward of the land as I also recognize that other people depend on the land too, for at least seven generations. I don't own land or anything else. It is all borrowed and my responsibility to steward and bring prosperity to the Earth. That is the foundation of our freedom and spiritual duty while we are here.
All the pictures on this post are pictures of my body and the land upon which it is intimately related and connected.
I love you.
I AM that I AM
My Spirit name is White Walking Feather
My vessels name is rob in the pagé family