SPIRITUALITÄT

Today we might say that there is a new awakening among many people to a greater spirituality. We hear about paradigm shifts and critical mass. Women seem to be at the forefront of these changes.

There is also an unprecedented interest in angels, miracles, the sp i- ritual world, life after death, and spirituality in general. Even our weekly news magazines, Time and Newsweek, reflect these interests in their cover stories. Certainly books on spiritual topics are prevalent. Recently, I noticed that there were ten books on angels among the new releases. We might ask several questions: Why now? Why spirituality? Why women?

Why now? We stand at the brink of a new millennium. Historically, a new millennium often marks a change; even a new century or a new decade or a new year are viewed as times for a new start. Within the last quarter century, there has been an accelerated movement toward the concept of a "New Age", a new era, an age of peace. The fall of communism gave impetus to such concepts; more than a few modern thinkers view this as a time when we are beginning to realize the evolution of humankind into more spiritual beings. We can almost get in touch with a powerful sense that we are on the edge of massive change -a time when the critical mass will explode and break through into a new world where all will see and understand. St. Paul once said, "Now we see through a glass darkly, then we will see face to face."

Today, whether it is James Redfield writing his profound, prophetic thoughts on our spiritual evolution into a novel, or Arianna Huffingron talking about spirituality as the "fourth instinct", it is not hard to find those among us who might be the modern prophets heralding a new spirituality and tracking the growth and evolution of human- kind.

Arianna Huffingron, author and lecturer, says in her latest book, The Fourth Instinct, "In truth, every age is an age of transition, but it's hard to fully comprehend a turning point when you are living through it. ...The signs are everywhere around us that one age is dying and another is being born -a historic moment such as has not occurred since the Middle Age gave way to the Renaissance.

“She believes that the scientific and religious are converging at this hour to give us a perspective on human possibility that belonged strictly to the world of the imagination only a decade ago. From genetic engineering to spiritual healing, old assumptions about humans' limitations are being altered or erased.

People are growing more spiritually sensitive and translating their sensi- tivity into attitudes and activities. Whether in publications or conversations, there is talk of new beginnings.

Whether we are optimistic or apocalyptic about the future depends on our perspective. Do we focus on what is dying or what is being born? No matter what the reason, many would agree that this is a defining moment in history.

Why spirituality? Like Mrs. Huffington, James Redfield, author of The Celestine Prophecy, writes of the spiritual evolution of humankind. He speaks of following hunches, feelings, coincidences, intuitions; it is an inner knowingness (my term). To quote from The Celestine Prophecy. The paradigm shift that is occurring in our times is best thought of as a new common sense. It may be the result of decades of intellectual description, but at the point where the description becomes lived, our new view is based on experience, not theory .

Spirituality seems to be the next step. The advances of science and technology have taken us a long way in making our world understandable and controllable; they have taken us to the far reaches of our earth and into space. We know the inner workings of the physical world around us. We have come to understand the inner workings of our own bodies. But what about the inner workings of the spirit, which will uncover the unity of all things, tie the pieces of life into wholeness, and give reason and purpose to life ? How can we understand and gain an awareness of afterlife as a continuum of life -a consciousness that never ends -and learn to be attuned to the world around us, our environment? How can we learn to heal our bodies and spirits naturally? My personal belief is that our spirituality was meant to develop side by side with our rational mind and physical body, giving direction to our life, growth, and actions. We see little vignettes of this in the natural spirituality of children, or the spirituality of the native peoples of the Americas or Australia who, without formal education of the scientific sort, gained great knowledge of the working of nature and man. We might say our spirituality was always there -a part of our original mind -before it became closed to hurt, pain, and guilt. We might view humanness as the search to fullfill the spirituality inherent within us.

As we continue on our spiritual search, Arianna Huffington says, "Not only will the greatest scientific discoveries of the future be made in the realm of the human spirit, but they will be part of everyones's life."

She goes on to say, in essence:

· Our eyes will be finally opened to the deep mystery of the whole of our lives.

· We will uncover the unity of all things, a dawning discovery that will render divisions like "inner" and "outer obsolete.

· As we become more sensitive, our aesthetic sensibility will at last be integrated with the rest of our lives.

· We will acknowledge the existence of a higher power not as an opinion but as a fact.

· Spirituality provides the only fixed point from which we can experience our interconnectedness regardless of race, creed, gender, of circumstances.

The priesthood of believers will minister not just heavenly truths but earthly comfort and care.

She ends with, "We need a critical mass of pioneers who will choose to follow the voice of our fourth instinct." Then values like responsibility, forgiveness, gratitude, and compassion will be practiced with the same frequency that they are preached.

Why women?
Spirituality seems to be a more feminine trait. There are those who believe that these "last days'. are closing on an era, on a kind of "dark age.. of human history where striving for power and the consequences of such struggle reigned . The struggle for power is, generally speaking, a more masculine trait. As we evolve into a more spiritual age, we will incorporate the more feminine principle of love and compassion, harmony, co-operation, and relationship building.

If these feminine principles are to become more prominent in the coming years, then it makes sense that women will feel the calling to participate in leadership.

Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon, founder of WFWP, says, "History is calling for reconciliation, compassion, love, service, and sacrifice. Today's problems can only be solved by the logic of love. This era has been tainted by war, violence, exploitation, and destruction. In the new era we are about to enter, women will have the central role in leading humanity into love, forgiveness, harmony, and co-operation."

It feels like this new energy is already flowing. As it gains momentum, our half of the human race is being called to rise up and give birth to a new world order.

When men think of leadership, they focus on control and organisation, power and success.

Women as mothers and nurturers think of leadership as giving birth - creating new patterns. Today women are talking about partners- hip, recognising that both the masculine driving force and the feminine creative force are needed -that we need to push forward together.

A generation ago we saw the feminist movement flourish. It was a reaction, a fight against the oppression, suppression, repression,

depression -all the "pression" words. I can on I y think of one for- ward-moving "pression" word, and that's "expression".

In the past, women fought for expression, hut they often lost the very creativity that is so much a part of the feminine expression. Today we 've all grown. We want to give birth to a better world. The men too are beginning to join in the evolution toward a critical mass that will explode into the rebirth of humankind.

Marianne Williamson, author and lecturer, says, " We are spiritual healers ...We try to find a masculine niche for our feminine powers, but I 'm not sure why. We must lead with the power of our womanly knowingness and let new careers take shape around it."

" We have the opportunity to forge a marriage between masculine and feminine, more potent and more vibrant than any we experienced on the earth for ages - more beautiful, perhaps, than any the earth has ever known."

"Should we awaken to the truth of the moment, we can consciously usher in one of the most important human breakthroughs in history."

There is a new woman on the horizon. She is tuning into the feminine energy of the Universe –of God.

She is concerned about partnership. She is connecting to others - women and men -in a new way and together they will change the way the world moves toward a millennium of peace.

When I look around, I see women leaders who will find the way to unite our minds and bodies in wholeness, and that without selfishness and greed, without bitterness and hatred, we can stand together to begin the re-writing of history. I see women leaders who will become the "founding mothers" who give birth to a new world!