Word and Spirit

I am a logophile. A lover of words. A poet. A storyteller.

I love words that live and breathe--that take on a life of their own once they are set free.

I enjoy resting in the words of others when they resonate a certain part of my soul. Powerful or poignant quotes. Poetic insights. This year, in particular, I have often found myself living in song lyrics. Adding music to words can bring them to life in an all the more profound way. This makes part of me wish I knew how to write music.

For many months, the opening lines of a poem had been echoing repeatedly my head: "Heed not the words that speaketh a teen..." Over and over again they would invade my consciousness. I didn't really recognize a particular significance to them, just mostly found it annoying ("Oh, here come the words again!").

But the words themselves are not random--they are actually from a sonnet I wrote as an assignment for a high school English class. The irony, of course, is that I WAS a teen at the time. I can still recite the words as if I wrote them yesterday:

Heed not the words that speaketh a teen
For 'tis only noise that they speak with
If you dig deep for what they might mean
You'll soon find yourself encompassed in myth
They wallow in shallowness and conceit
While drowning others in their pride
But once they are forced to take the heat
They drop down their guard to run and hide
So what do you do in such a false world
Where depth does not seem to exist
Where people are groping for jewels and pearls
As dreams and goals slip away in the mist
Well first you must pause
And then deeply reflect
Because you are the cause
And the world around you, the effect

As far back as I can remember, I have always found something deeper to life than what it seemed most other people were conscious of. I had special antennae that allowed me to seek out and locate those individuals who also recognized and appreciated these deeper layers of life--many of these folks became my mentors. At the time I felt they did a better job of "getting me"...but in retrospect I see that it's easier to feel like someone understands you when you both share similar worldviews. In any case, each of these mentor relationships contained some sort of spiritual connection (some more overtly than others, but I think it was always there).

I think experiencing the deepest layers of life necessarily includes opening up our deepest selves to sharing with another. Human experience is relational. There are some elements to human experience that I will never have the opportunity to know if I don't experience them with another human being.

When I start to feel disconnected from myself, I immediately note that my spiritual life needs cultivating. My spirit rests at the deepest part of my soul--and when I don't keep the lines open, I start shutting myself off from being able to experience those deepest layers of life itself. I see, now, why my deepest relationships all have a spiritual element--it's not simply about sharing similar worldviews...it's about a genuine spirit-to-spirit exchange.