Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Spiritual beings
By Rene Lizada
Papa's Table
I WAS invited by Mrs. Rosie Dominguez to be the guest speaker in a Tribute to the Graduates by the Foundation for Development Through Education, Inc. (FDTEI), a foundation formed by the Dominguez family.
This foundation was established to "contribute to the education of members of the Muslim and non-Muslim cultural minorities in the region by providing scholarship grants to deserving young adults from financially disadvantaged families as well to provide assistance to academic institutions of excellence. I share my speech with you:
Let me tell you a story about Sudha Chandran. She was a great contemporary classical Indian dancer, She was such a great dancer that she rose to the top of her field. And she was immensely popular, But tragedy happened. At the height of her career she was literally cut off from her dancing. Her right leg had to be amputated. But she would not give up. After being fitted with an artificial leg, she went back to dancing and through hard work and steely determination, made it to the top once more. When asked on how she was able to overcome the challenges and the difficulties, she simply said, "You do not need feet to dance."
Many years ago, I came across a quotation that changed my life. It was such a simple statement and yet it had an impact on me. The quotation was this, "Remember you are not a human being having a spiritual experience; rather you are a spiritual being having a human experience."
We are all spiritual, you and I. We are spirit and we are defined as such. We are all spirit and thus we share the attributes of that. And what are the traits of this spiritual character?
First, because we are spirit, we have no shape or form. We can be anything we want to be. The possibilities that are in our hands are only limited by the thoughts that limit us. We can be whatever we wish to be. The German philosopher Rilke defined this as the " possibility of being." We can be that wish we desire or not desire. In ourselves lie the power of transforming our lives and making them inspiring and full. In us is the magic of possibilities. Our lives are not bound by time or space and circumstance. Pursuing our dreams, believing in what we can be, attaining that which completes us are the pathways that we undertake.
We can be anything we want to be. If we dream hard enough, hope without withering, stay in the unwavering course and believe in the possibility of our beings then we shall be beings of birth and beginnings.
Second, as beings of spirit we are indestructible. Each person in this room is first and last made up not of bones and muscle, not of material wealth or titles but of spirit that is above all that in this world. Our real character is strong and powerful, beyond measure. It makes us climb Mt. Everest, journey to deep space, face our deepest fears. It makes us scale our own mountains. It makes us go through heartaches and the storms of our lives. It makes adversities, opportunities.
It makes trying times moments of greatness. It nurtures us and washes our tears away and it rejoices when we emerge stronger and more powerful, beyond measure. To say that is not a declaration of pride or arrogance but of what our truth is. You and I are stronger than we think we are. Our true character is not enslaved by greed or arrogance. Our authentic spirit is not chained by the unforgiving chains of material wealth or the assiduous pursuit of what passes. Our true character does not rejoice in oppression or hatred or poverty or sorrow. Our true nature celebrates truth, kindness, gentleness, simplicity and love. Our true character is eternal.
Our real character is creative and imaginative. And it is manifested in the majestic swell of symphonies, in the deep reflection of poetry, in the splash of color in the ecstasy of painting. We are more than what we can ever imagine to be.
And third, as spirit we are bound. We are interwoven, drawn together, or in the words of the Lion King we are all part of the circle of life. We are all part of life, and what happens to you, happens to me. We are all responsible for what we do because it affects all of us. No one in this world is alone. You and I are part of the great design of things.
There is no wasted life nor will there ever be one. We sing one song. That is why the world we live in is called the uni-verse. It does not matter if you are Muslim, Buddhist, Christian or Taoist. We travel different paths, live varied lives, experience diverse situations, yet in the end we are one. The spirit does not define or judge. It merely is. In the truest sense, my spirit is you and your spirit is, me.
Finally as spiritual beings we draw our light from the source of light. He is called by many names. God and Allah. We call and worship this Great Spirit because we acknowledge and acclaim His grace and power. And the highest that we can do, the ultimate service that we can offer this Great Spirit is our own truth. To be true to the holiness of our being. And that means that we celebrate the joy, the infinity, the power, the creativity and the strength of our essence. . To use all that we have to attain the highest is our obligation and miracle. To sing our song, to shout to the world in the words of the poet Walt Whitman, our "barbaric yawp," to dance to the salutation of our genuine character.
And to do that we need not use our feet to dance.
Listen. Listen closely to the spirit that is you.
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