Spiritual Rebel

by Sarah Bowen

  We live in an age where scientific fact is often prized over mystery, where we regularly presume there is a perfectly scientific explanation for everything going on. Yet that’s not the case. It’s estimated that 95 percent of the Universe is composed of matter or energy that is not visible: 68 percent is dark energy and 27 percent is dark matter (neither of which is to be confused with the dark side; nor is dark a moral judgment here). NASA admits, “More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the Universe’s expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an important mystery.”

  Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, in his wonder-filled book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, agrees, “Most of the universe is made of stuff about which we are clueless.” He then adds, “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” Indeed.

  This Wōdnesdæg, let’s suspend certainty in search of wonder.

  WEEK 1: AMAZING EVERYTHING

  Being amazed means letting go of figuring everything out. When observing something, we stay in the moment, letting the felt sense of astonishment, amazement, and wonderment seep into us. Like breathing and blessing, radical amazement can be a mode of being.

  HOW IT WORKS

  1. Start your day by tuning in to the flow of life force within yourself. Perhaps repeat Monday’s breathing practices to get your flow going. Consider offering a quick blessing with your breakfast.

  2. Step outside and look up. Observe the vastness. Breathe in and out slowly, contemplating how far “up” is. Notice the movement of any clouds and the feeling of any warmth from the Sun, which is nearly 93 million miles from you.

  3. Find a place to sit quietly. Consider the following ideas:

  • You are a tiny part of a massive galaxy, one of over one hundred billion galaxies, with the nearest 600,000 light years from you.

  • Each year, a thousand tons of Martian rocks rain down on Earth from nearly 34 million miles away.

  • At night, the nearest star will be 25 trillion miles from where you are sitting.

  • Right now, you can only see about 0.0035 percent of the light spectrum around you. The rest is invisible to the naked human eye.

  • You are one of over seven billion humans among 8.7 million more species of life on Earth.

  4. Close your eyes gently and consider how small you are, one tiny blip in an ever-expanding, increasingly connected universe. Amazing.

  5. Open your eyes. Look at your hand, then at your foot. Consider these ideas:

  • Around 10,000 different species of microorganisms call you home.

  • Your body is made up of around 37.2 trillion cells, 2 billion of them in your heart alone.

  • Your nose can recognize almost a trillion different scents.

  • Information is zooming along your nerves at about 250 miles per hour.

  6. Close your eyes and consider how large you are: An entire world lives within you. Amazing.

  7. Continuing your day, cultivate radical amazement. Contemplate your world as you pass through it. Let amazing be your word of the day.

  REBELLIOUS VARIATIONS

  Go with the flow: Ponder these words of the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus: “You cannot step twice into the same river.” Spend some time today observing water: a river, rain puddle, or even your tap. Watch how the water is in a constant state of transition, never static. Consider the implications of your own body being 45 to 60 percent water, which is replaced about every 16 days.

  Grateful amazement: After any moment of awe or wonder, take time to express gratitude, perhaps tossing out a hearty “Thank you” into the universe.

  Be curious, like George: Spend your day like the adorable (and inquisitive!) orphaned chimpanzee, George. When you see something that grabs your attention, probe further with questions. Author and producer Brian Grazer, in his New York Times bestseller, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life, proposes: “Curiosity is a state of mind. More specifically, it’s the state of having an open mind. Curiosity is a kind of receptivity. And best of all, there is no trick to curiosity. You just have to ask one good question a day and listen to the answer.”

  Cloud gazing: If you are someone whose neck seems to be always curled down towards a screen, try reversing your position, stretching upward to check out the wonder above you, from the clouds’ incredible variety of shapes, to the way they seem to float across the sky like thoughts through your mind, to the occasional auspicious rainbow. It’s easy to get hooked on the sky.

  Reach for the stars: Continue beyond our visible Universe, by visiting a local science museum or observatory. (Long live the retro laser light show.)

  DISCOVER DEEPLY

  • Read I Asked for Wonder: A Spiritual Anthology of Abraham Joshua Heschel, edited by Samuel H. Dresner.

  • Watch the mind-blowing three-minute animation The Inner Life of the Cell from XVIVO Scientific Animation and Harvard University on YouTube.

  • Read A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life by Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman.

  • Read How to Read Water: Clues & Patterns from Puddles to the Sea by Tristan Gooley.

  • Watch Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Seth MacFarlane and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s excellent remake of Carl Sagan’s classic series.

  • Read Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de-Grasse Tyson.

  Trekking Thursday

  This must be Thursday.

  I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

  ARTHUR DENT (IN THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY)

  * * *

  Yet Thursday is the day that Arthur begins the most exciting journey of his life. From his house being torn down, to Earth being vaporized, to being shot into space by a race of aliens known as the Vogons*, it happened on Thursday.

  Sadly, Thursday is sometimes jokingly called “Friday Eve,” or “the thing that’s blocking Friday.” We’re going to take our cue from Arthur Dent, and make Thursday memorable by getting our trekking on. We’ll explore strange new worlds, seek out new life, and boldly go where no one has gone before! As Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard said, “Seize the time: Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.”

  But wait, I don’t mean that kind of Trek. (I can see how I went there though, what with all the Star Wars references. It’s only fair to throw in something for any smoldering Trekkies.) Unless you are reading this book after Elon Musk has addicted us to cheap space travel, we’ll need to focus our trekking here on Earth. It’s time to wander where Mother Nature is strong and the Wi-Fi is weak.

  I can think of no better inspiration for wandering than naturalist John Muir. After his first visit to Yosemite in 1868, he returned nonstop for decades. His prolific writing filled volumes, introducing city people to the wilds of the Western United States. Eventually, Muir was pulled back to society to lobby for the Earth, cofounding the Sierra Club and becoming an unrelenting preservationist, the “Father of our National Parks.”

  Likely you’ve seen his quotes in your social media feed. His wise words abound there: “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness,” or “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure some of them are dirt,” or “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” But the one I adore most is: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” Muir is my Yoda of the woods.

  So many of our spiritual traditions speak of oneness, the unity or the Uni-verse. Sacred texts describe an absence of separation: how each thing is related to another thing related to another thing until we have no-thing but one big thing which is everything. From the Lakota’s worldview of interconnectedness (Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ), to science’s Initial Singularity, to the natural harmony of Tao, to the allness of the Vedic Aham Brahmasmi and the oneness of Buddhist nonseparation, we find words trying to explain a worldwide concept: Everything is connected. Muir’s wisdom reminds us that
our words are only descriptions of our experience: “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” His words urge us to seek that moment of complete immersion in nature when the edges of your view start to fade, and there’s a sense that you are no longer just you.

  WEEK 1: MAY THE FOREST BE WITH YOU

  Dr. Qing Li, chairman of the Japanese Society for Forest Medicine, seeks to explain just why we feel so good when we are enveloped by nature—specifically around trees and especially in forests. Through a scientific perspective, he suggests proof for what Muir offered through prose.

  Li’s recommended practice is shinrin-yoku, Japanese for “forest bathing,” or “taking in the forest through our senses.” (Don’t fret, all clothes will be kept on, and no soap is needed.) Consider these benefits from Li’s studies: lowered stress hormones, decreased fight/flight anxiety, increased ability to rest and recover, lowered blood pressure, improved sleep, and improved mood. In his visually stunning book Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, Li also elaborates on forest bathing’s spiritual benefits: “Immersed in the natural world, we can experience the miracle of life and connect to something larger than ourselves. Nature takes our breath away and breathes new life into us.”

  Today we’ll seek a state of connectedness by going out to go in. Unlike Muir, most of us do not live in the shadow of Yosemite or another stunning National Park. (And I didn’t give you any warning yesterday to pack for a quick trip to the forests of Japan.) So we’ll start by merely finding a green spot nearby. May the forest be with us!

  HOW IT WORKS

  Part 1:

  1. Start by tuning in to the flow of life force within yourself.

  2. Soften your eyes and recall yesterday’s wonder practice. Think about the expansiveness of the Universe, and the abounding miracles going on right now in your body.

  3. Mentally scan through your schedule for today. Where can you find 20 minutes (or more) to wander? Do you drive past a trail on your way to work? Is there a tree-filled park nearby where you could spend your lunch break? Now set a phone alarm so you don’t forget to head out for your wander.

  Part 2:

  4. Before starting your wander, try this tip I picked up from Ruth Baetz in Wild Communion: Experiencing Peace in Nature: Leave your nagging thoughts behind. Jot down this sentence: “I’m leaving behind” and follow it with anything you are ruminating about (what you need to pick up at the store, how to pay the phone bill, your long to-do list).

  5. Silence your phone (or better yet, leave it behind as well).

  6. Wander. Bathe your senses. Repeat. What do you see? Smell? Hear? How does the ground feel? How does the air taste? Tune in with your senses.

  7. Notice the connections. Leaves are parts of trees, but whole within themselves. Consider cycles in progress around you: Plants live, die, become part of the soil from which they sprouted.

  8. Reflect. After your wander, scribble any meaningful spiritual moments. Contemplate adding more wandering throughout your week.

  REBELLIOUS VARIATIONS

  Enlist a friend: If you are concerned about safety in your area, take a companion. Share your “I’m leaving behind” lists with each other, then wander in silence. Afterward, reflect together to see how your experiences were similar and at the same time different.

  In the city: Discover nature in the unexpected. Brick is made of organic clay and shale. Feel its texture. Imagine its transformation. Solitary trees and sidewalk weeds grow against the odds, shooting up from our urbanscapes. Take a cue from this Lakota prayer, “Let me learn the lessons hidden in every leaf and rock.”

  Pitching in: Take a small trash bag on your wander for any trash you see along the way. Help make the area more beautiful for whoever comes after you.

  You deserve a microbreak today: Can’t get out today? Schedule your wander for another day. Then spend some time looking out the window at nature. A study by the University of Melbourne found that as little as 40 seconds can help restore you from mental fatigue.

  Just sit: If you are mobility-challenged, lazy, weather-bound, or forest-phobic, consider quietly sitting outside instead of wandering. According to the EPA, the average American spends 93 percent of our time indoors. Getting ourselves outside can bring tremendous mental and physical benefits. And don’t forget to take your shoes off. According to Li, connecting your body to the Earth can give you a super dose of powerful healing electrons.

  Be Tao: While wandering, stop for a moment and be still. Follow the guidance of Lao Tzu: “Just remain in the center watching, and then forget you are there.”

  Bring the outdoors in: Fill your house with healing plants. (If you share your home with any four-legged roommates, make sure to check that the plants are not toxic.)

  DISCOVER DEEPLY

  • Watch PBS’s stunning time-lapse documentary Nature: What Plants Talk About.

  • Read Wilderness Essays by John Muir.

  • Find forests near you at discovertheforest.org.

  • Read Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness by Dr. Qing Li.

  • Order a free Forest Therapy Starter Kit at shinrin-yoku.org.

  • Read The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate by Peter Wohlleben.

  • Join a preservation or conservation organization.

  NOTES

  * Vogons should not be confused with Star Trek’s warp-capable Vorgons. As described in The Hitchhiker’s Guide, “[Vogons] are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn’t even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bug-blatter Beast of Traal without orders—signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.” So, yeah, running into them would make for a terrible Thursday.

  Fearless Friday

  Friday: my second-favorite F-word.

  ANONYMOUS

  * * *

  Behind Force, of course.

  I suspect none of us would count fear among our favorites. (It might even have shown up in our sacred trash.) Fear—and its partner anxiety—can send us into a tailspin. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), about 18 percent of us deal with anxiety at a clinical level. And the rest of us are no strangers to the fight, flight, or freeze signals coming from our amygdalas. Unable to feel safe in an inconsistent, chaotic world, we remain hypervigilant, waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.

  In her book First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety, Sarah Wilson provides a spot-on description of the experience of anxiety: “The tortuous human experience of having a fretful, frenzied mind that trips along ahead of us, just beyond our grip, driving us mad and leaving us thinking we’ve got it all terribly wrong.” Wilson goes on to suggest that our anxiety comes from disconnection from Something Else. (Her G-word?) “It’s like we’re searching for a Something Else that makes us feel…what? Like we’ve landed, I suppose.”

  Our spiritual disconnection can lead to trepidation. Feeling that we aren’t safe or okay (whatever that means!), we worry we won’t measure up or that we’ll do something wrong. Afraid we’ll lose something (or someone) that is important to us, we struggle with analysis paralysis. It’s no surprise to me that many of our religious narratives contain an element of facing fear. Picture these spiritual rebels in action: Moses facing his God at Sinai, Jesus on the cross at Golgotha, Arjuna preparing for battle at Kurukshetra, Buddha facing the maras under the Bodhi tree, and Mohammed hearing the voice of Gabriel.

  These vivid stories provide models for facing fear with courage. Likewise, our history books and current news abound with stories of courage: Chief Joseph leading his people to Canada in peaceful resistance, Martin Luther King Jr. marching for equality, Emma
Gonzalez remaining silent in hope of gun legislation changes.

  Stories of braveness and courage saturate every society—so much that literature professor and mythologist Joseph Campbell outlined a 17-step hero’s journey he identified throughout many world mythologies. Even though you might not have read Campbell’s work, you’ve seen the steps played out in plenty of modern movies: Indiana Jones. Harry Potter. The Matrix. Star Wars. Star Trek. Black Panther. The Lord of the Rings. Yes, even Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (“We are the knights who say, ‘Ni!’”)

  In these stories, the words courage and bravery are often used interchangeably. Yet, if we dig, we can find a nuanced difference. Bravery is daring, bold, and admirable, often centered on an outward appearance: “My, my, isn’t she brave?” Or think of The Wizard of Oz’s Cowardly Lion, “Put ’em up, put ’em up! Which one of you first? I’ll fight you both together if you want. I’ll fight you with one paw tied behind my back. I’ll fight you standing on one foot. I’ll fight you with my eyes closed…ohh, pullin’ an axe on me, eh? Sneakin’ up on me, eh?”

  But without courage, the lion is all bravado. Courage is the inner spring that feeds the outward fountain of bravery, facing fear not in the absence of fear, but in spite of it. I picture my little rescue cat Deacon, his tiny little body shaking, making that first step towards us for a pat, showing strength through his perceived weakness. Author and artist Mary Anne Radmacher voices this superbly, “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow.’”