16. Identity
Spirit. Land. Expression.
Identity on Earth is perceived through 3 main facets (The reality is that identity is infinite, but we need to focus lol.):
the physical body (land) identity,
spiritual identity &
the expression of our Authentic Self (spirit) in the world (land).
There is only Spirit and Land and they are different vibrations of the same unified whole. The trouble comes when the harmony and expression of either gets interrupted or suppressed.
The Land Body
Our physical body is Earth.
We are literally expressing spirit through Earth. The entirety of physical existence is expressing Spirit through Land. Our physical bodies are an identity point. Our physical body is a unique perspective of the whole. Not separate - just a unique facet of the whole. Like a diamond - we’re all unique shining facets of a gem.
Our bodies are an ancient collection of influences; dna, ancestry, culture, gender, physical characteristics, likes, preferences, gifts, talents and beliefs.
We carry the land of our ancestors.
“The heart connection we have made and the attention we have paid nurture both of us.”
~ Lezley & the Plants
The land of our body is being remade by the Earth constantly. Our land bodies are being regenerated through the food and water and sun and spirit that replace all the cells in our physical bodies. Our land bodies are being re-created at all times by the Spirit we express and the nourishment we intake. We eat food from all over the world and our bodies are regenerated by the entirety of the planet.
Foods we eat that we raise and care for directly, nourish both of us. The heart connection we have made and the attention we have paid to nurture that particular being to fruition is given back to us. Everything we take into our bodies is given to the Earth at large. Love and gratitude create an environment rich and nutritious for all beings.
The Spiritual Body
Not everyone has a developed spiritual body. The ongoing education of organized religion has disconnected our spirit from our body and from our experience on the planet in the flesh.
Western societal systems are aligned fundamentally with the “body-only” perspective of existence. The “body-only” as a separate and unconnected physical entity. These constructs believe and allow that some can be harmed for the benefit of others and somehow that harm will not affect the whole. Any kind of authoritarian, hierarchy of power is indicative of a separate “body-only” identity.
Spiritual identity encourages the participation of all and consensus building. Spirituality invites inclusion and acknowledges the oneness of all things. Integrating spiritual identity with body identity is to come into wholiness and see self in connection and communion with the greater whole.
Western society has developed by repressing and devaluing the emotional and spiritual realities of our existence.
The mental and physical bodies have been encouraged to flourish and given free range of expression within the confines of "logic" and "evidence" and "proof". Western society produced the current scientific, ‘separate into categories’ model of science. Western science is a way of knowing that allows a very limited range of information gathering to be valued and dismisses anything outside of a “body-only” paradigm.
Direct ways of knowing, intuition, spirituality, feelings, emotion and empathy have historically been devalued and dismissed. Often associated with the "feminine", Western societies have developed out of balance with true wholiness and are suffering from the fruits of that distortion.
Western systems were created by and are maintained by a type of psychopathic narcissism characterized by 'god-kings' (divine right of kings). Genocide, slavery, poverty, environmental destruction, exclusion and injustice can't happen when we are functioning as whole balanced individuals who also have healthy emotional and spiritual bodies. The goal is to be balanced and in harmony with all levels of our identity.
Expression of Soul Sovereignty
Expression of authentic soul self is the litmus test of life.
Our lives are a mirror reflection of our connection to our soul truth in our lives. Most of us have some level of disconnect between who we are and what we believe in our authentic self versus how we express that self in the world.
Fear of rejection, fear of not being loved, fear of not being cared for or supported and accepted, fear of being harmed or being unalived are powerful motivators to squash our authentic expressions of self.
We squashed and froze these parts of ourselves as little people to keep safe.
This was us taking care of ourselves the best we could.
This was done in service to ourselves because we weren't able to care for our survival alone. We needed to have the support and care of those around us and we were willing to distort our authentic selves to get it.
The original distortion isn't the trauma.
The trauma is believing the distortion is true.
The trauma is forgetting our sovereign soul self.
Like an animal that freezes in the face of danger, we freeze the parts of ourselves that receive negative responses from our caregivers - any negative response. Aggression, rejection, ignoring, avoiding, irritation... they are all perceived as equal by a little person.
It feels like a dangerous lack of love and it feels like it is all our fault.
Animals lack our socialization to repress, so after a fear response is over, they are able to (TW - the video begins with some upsetting nature stuff - but it turns out alright for the Impala) shake off the freeze and return to their original state .
This has not been part of our socialization, we have not been taught or given the space to do this.
The freeze remains stuck because human beings need a safe place of love and compassion to feel the emotions of fear and sadness and anger that come up when we are rejected by loved ones in our little state. We require the space and safety to process those emotions and experiences and release them.
The processing and release allows us to return to authentic self.
Without emotional processing we view the frozen emotional experiences with fear and loathing and create more freezing and layer it with stories and beliefs about ourselves and the world and get triggered when it's touched and avoid it and reject it and disconnect...
This happens over and over in a myriad of ways until we are relating with the world and to one another from our wounded places because our loving, authentic, joyful self has been buried under years of unprocessed emotional trauma. Trauma that we forgot about and lost touch with the origins.
Healing and growth isn't about learning new things, it's about remembering who we have always been and the wisdom we have always known.
We don't 'add to' - we remove that which denies what has always been with us.
The Practice
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List all the roles you play in your life - all the things that influence how you move through the world
Be as subjective as possible
Then be as objective as possible. Ask for feedback from those around you what they see are the roles you play out.
Get quiet and in a mothaitheacht state - listen to what your body has to say about your identity as land.
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What do you belief Spirit is? YOUR spiritual beliefs - not institutional or family or town or country.
How does it work in the world? What do you think it all means?
How do those 2 aspects work together in your life? Spirit and land/flesh?
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How are you expressing spirit in through your land? How are you not? What's holding you back?
How can you more authentically express your spirit in the world?