Spectrum of Spirit: A Digital Sanctuary for Spiritual Discourse and Community

The "Spectrum of Spirit" blog features insightful articles, essays, and reflections penned by the founder, Paul, and diverse guest contributors. Focusing on contemporary spirituality, the blog offers regular updates with weekly themes and seasonal reflections, fostering ongoing engagement and a deeper understanding of spiritual practices and trends.

What If Spirituality Was Just the Beginning of an Inner and Outer Renaissance?

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By

Paul Hudson

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7–10 minutes

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Beyonce’s movie, RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCE, might have been the trigger to change my life. December 2nd, 2023 was the day my perspective was challenged like never before. RENAISSANCE was “received with extraordinary acclaim, Beyonce’s Renaissance world tour created a sanctuary for freedom, and shared joy, for more than 2.7 million fans”.1 People would journey all around the world to see Beyonce’s out-of-this-world performance. In the film, I could see the “Beyhive’s” deep appreciation and admiration for the culture Beyonce has created through her music and other works. Beyonce aimed to produce a work that would transcend our physical entertainment world, into a connected, creative, almost spiritual, artistic experience. I believe Beyonce’s Renaissance brought awareness to the different oppressed cultures in our world, impacting and changing their lives for the better.

The term renaissance is typically capitalized and refers to a specific time period in history. However, the word renaissance means “rebirth, revival”.2 I believe there are stages in the cycle of spirituality, and I call the last stage in the cycle of spirituality “Renaissance of Spirit and Thought”, based off the evolution of the word “spectrum” after Isaac Newton’s first usage of the term in his studies. After Newton, Scientists challenged and tested his hypothesis to further build upon Newton’s initial findings, coming to different conclusions and applications of spectrum. I believe this stage in the cycle of spirituality is one of the most important stages, an evolution of interpretation and critique on previous spiritual discourse. Similar to Beyonce’s Renaissance, I believe this stage is where an individual explores and experiences different cultures, and integrates these cultures to bring awareness and understanding to their oppression. Like Beyonce’s Renaissance, this stage is filled with reconciliation of one’s previous understanding with their new understanding, allowing one to freely express the best version of themselves.

How to Renaissance

In terms of my Spectrum of Spirit philosophy, I believe the Renaissance of Spirit and Thought includes all aspects of Spectrum of Spirit. I believe the Renaissance involves observing as many of the interpretations of the spiritual event as you can. I believe the Renaissance involves being present and breathing in the cultural circumstances surrounding you. I believe the Renaissance involves expressing your findings through the power of art, bringing your vision to reality. I believe figuring out how to experience your own Renaissance will allow you to increase your energy and live life to the fullest.

In the Highest Self Podcast, Sahara Rose accompanied by Stephanie Jaie, they have a discussion around energy and relationships.3 Sahara and Stephanie mention a concept called an “energy orgasm”, that they later explain in the podcast (don’t worry it’s not what you think).4 Stephanie defines an energy orgasm as an event when “energy is moving up the back of your spine in such an intense way it ripples through your entire body”.5 Later on in the episode, Stephanie explains how to achieve this state. Stephanie says, “The first thing you are going to let all of the air out of your body”.6 Then your going to hold your stomach cavity empty of air while tightening all of your muscles.7 You should feel your belly suck in and your pelvic area contract up.8 “From here, your going to breathe in as if your breathing in through a straw”.9 “Once your full, your going to hold flex your pelvic floor muscles as many times as you can”.10

The energy activation exercise is meant to bring you pleasure lasting for as much as 20-30 minutes.11 Cultivating this energy and activating the different parts of your upper body can bring you out of your difficult situation and allow you to have a new perspective. I think giving this energy practice a try, could spark a renaissance within you of what thought around spirituality means to you. Experimenting with different spiritual practices could help you figure out how you could have your own renaissance towards freedom.

Ancient Renaissance

Old new thought. I believe this is what an ancient renaissance would consist of. A new expression of an old understanding. A return to what has always been there, but the subject returning is not the same as they once were. I believe humans have gained a better understanding of our environment since the first Renaissance. With this acquired knowledge, I hope we can look deeper into symbols and rituals of previous life to experience not just what they are but what the intention behind them was. I believe taking this time can bring gratitude and joy for our ancestors’ efforts, but also allow us to renew their efforts and add our perspective into it, weaving a beautiful tapestry of experience and knowledge.

On the Sadhguru podcast, a person asks Sadhguru “what is the significant of the Diwali festival”.12 Diwali/Dhantrayodashi is a festival where everyone worships the deity dedicated to one’s health and wellbeing.13 Sadghuru explains that in Indian culture, people tend to shorten the names of their deities.14 This changed the name of the festival of Dhantrayodashi to the festival of Dhanatraya.15 Interestingly enough, Sadhguru explains the festival of Dhantrayodashi was once about health, but with the shortening of the word, the festival of Dhantraya became about wealth.16 Sadghuru then transitions into explaining the Diwali festival is one to signify the transition to the winter months which, particularly in the northern hemisphere, slows down the pace of life.17 Sadghuru explains the science, societal life, and significance of Diwali throughout the episode before he closes his message. “Diwali is not a religious festival, it’s got something to do with our geographical location”.18

If I would have written all the ancient/rural rituals Sadhguru mentioned, this blog would have been too long. I encourage you if you have the time to listen to the podcast yourself, it is very informative. After listening to Sadhguru, I have a newfound respect and appreciation for the Diwali festival. It is a festival that encourages life and energy in a period where our natural tendency is to “hibernate”. I believe Diwali is a festival of resistance against the harsh oppressive winter season that falls on all living beings. I would encourage you to understand the ancient rituals associated with Diwali, finding ways to draw energy to your life, mainly by using the most powerful source of energy in our galaxy. The sun. I challenge you to engage with the sun’s light, let it bring you gratitude, joy, and your renaissance.

Art Renaissance

Renaissance is also referred to as “a movement or period of vigorous artistic and intellectual activity”.19 Art was pivotal to a renaissance. As I’ve started my artistic journey, I’ve been fortunate to have mentors and also take classes to show me that creation of art is a small part of the journey, maybe 10% of the whole process. Leveraging markets, developing an audience, funding my production, growing my platform, balancing creativity with business, are all factors into the art journey I was unaware of a month ago. I believe making art for personal enjoyment/development is great, but I believe I would like my expression to lead to change, connection, and conversation. For me to do this I have to learn how to tell my story for multiple communities, in ways that would intrigue them and move them to share my work. I have to learn how to market.

Fortunately, The BoldBrush Show recently produced a podcast around art marketing.20 One of the speakers says he thinks online and social media is the best way to market your art in our current world.21 The speaker thinks it will make people know about you.22 The speaker continues saying for small art works, affordable small social media or online is the best way to market your work.23 The speaker goes on to say that for teaching, Youtube is the best to market your work, people can watch on their smartphones, normal TV, tablets, allowing you to teach with more possibilities.24 When your audience could learn something from you, they will want to follow you.25 The speaker closes saying for teaching, Youtube and Instagram the best platform and for marketing and promotion your own website is the best platform to invest and care about because everything should lead to your website.26

Youtube, Instagram, X, Tiktok, newsletters and your own website are all personal expressions of yourself. These platforms invite others to join a community that you build to share what you have to share with the world. Social media platforms aren’t just for sharing your highlights, but also for telling the story you want to tell. With our global world increasing interaction on a daily basis, I would encourage you to use your platforms as a voice to invoke change the best way you see fit. Expressing yourself and your art to others could connect you to diverse people, building bridges to a wide audience. Online communication can be used to expand and retain your friend group and convey what is in your spirit. As you experience your own energy renaissance, I would encourage you to embrace our digital and use the online platforms to invite others into your experience.

Reaffirming Renaissance

Search for how. Dance with your living energy. Consider ancient life. Create outside of art. Grasp your current self. Pursue with others you trust. Make a path. Reconsider your traditions. Reassess the world’s practices. Find unity. Spark personal growth. Inspire collective renaissance through spirit and thought.

Bibliography

  1. Powster, “RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ,” RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ | Official Website | In Theaters December 1, accessed October 30, 2024, https://www.beyoncefilm.com/synopsis/. ↩︎
  2.  “Definition of RENAISSANCE,” Merriam-Webster: America’s Most Trusted Dictionary, last modified December 27, 2023, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/renaissance. ↩︎
  3. Highest Self Podcast, “574: How To Have Mind-Blowing Energy Orgasms (Even Solo!) with Stephanie Jaie,” Spotify, last modified October 29, 2024, https://open.spotify.com/episode/74iiG7hlaS3ldWR3KnuPjH. ↩︎
  4. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  5. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  6. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  7. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  8. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  9. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  10. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  11. Highest Self Podcast ↩︎
  12. The Sadhguru Podcast, “#1255 – Ancient Secrets of Diwali & Dhanatrayodashi,” Spotify, last modified October 30, 2024, https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Ie5P6Tp96e0Pd1d22PqXO. ↩︎
  13. The Sadhguru Podcast ↩︎
  14. The Sadhguru Podcast ↩︎
  15. The Sadhguru Podcast ↩︎
  16. The Sadhguru Podcast ↩︎
  17. The Sadhguru Podcast ↩︎
  18. The Sadhguru Podcast ↩︎
  19. “Definition of RENAISSANCE,” ↩︎
  20. The BoldBrush Show, “106 Art Marketing — More Than Just Art,” Spotify, last modified October 29, 2024, https://open.spotify.com/episode/2n78ooOFGvGED316Zjk34j. ↩︎
  21. The BoldBrush Show ↩︎
  22. The BoldBrush Show ↩︎
  23. The BoldBrush Show ↩︎
  24. The BoldBrush Show ↩︎
  25. The BoldBrush Show ↩︎
  26. The BoldBrush Show ↩︎

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