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

In my NIV translation of the Bible, I do not see a reference to a compass. However, one of the definitions for a compass is “any of various nonmagnetic devices that indicate direction”¹. I believe compasses, both literal and metaphorical, can be useful for guidance in one’s life. In our world where many people feel a sense of emptiness, division and even collapse, I believe managing one’s understanding is very important. In the United States, I have heard complaints about our ecological, political, and economic decisions, but I would like to take a different perspective on the feelings of discontentment in the nation. I believe the country’s spiritual sense has a huge impact on the way Americans feel about their present and future lives.

Over the summer, I went to a Climate Film Festival, where a documentary was shown about the impact on Global Warming on a specific family in a specific area, also known as the Climate Frontlines. The devastation shown on screen made me wonder if there was a similar crisis occurring in the spiritual world coinciding with our physical reality. The idea that came out of it I will coin as “The Great Disconnect”, a global shift in human activities that has negatively impacted our world’s spirituality. I believe recognizing different ways human behavior has burdened our spiritual life, can empower people to move towards a community of compassion, connecting with nature and our environment with a fresh perspective.

Defining Compass

I mentioned the term “The Great Disconnect” earlier and I want to elaborate further on this before we move forward. Due to factors such as, Consumerism, lack of compassion, disconnection from nature, commercialized spirituality, movement away from ethical thought, religious extremism, environmental exploitation and more, I believe our world and us humans that live here have lost a sense of meaning. A loss of meaning, separations in connection and equality, our environment’s devastation, and spiritual alienation have been some of the consequences brewing for years on end.

Highlighting spiritual alienation, I believe our society has disconnected itself from some spiritual values due to religious trauma induced throughout individuals lives. I believe spiritual alienation has led to a distrust in certain communities, a neglect towards the environment, a shifting stance on ethical grounds, and negativity permeating human existence. I believe there has been a loss of interconnectedness in our social interactions and all of our spirits, driving environmental degradation.

I believe communities that rely heavily on interconnectedness within their culture and environment are most vulnerable to “The Great Disconnect” and are the communities I am most passionate about. In our modernized world, I believe these communities have their spiritual and social traditions washed out by materialistic and exploitative cultures, moving them away from what they have been defined by and are historically connected to.

Compasses Matter

The groups that I believe are most affected by “The Great Disconnect” are indigenous communities, agricultural communities, disadvantaged communities, traditional communities, ecosystem dependent communities, youth in hyper-connected digital cultures, nomadic communities, and communities forced into displacement. I believe some of these communities overlap and some main themes of their vulnerability to “The Great Disconnect” include disrupted harmony, a rise in materialism, and erosion of core beliefs. I believe these vulnerabilities expose these communities to resource depletion, mental health issues, economic stability, and even a loss of identity.

I believe the communities listed above have a deeper connection to their ancestors than a lot of modernized societies, like the United States, do. I believe some of the cultural and spiritual practices help establish and maintain a part of an individual’s identity to move through a world with a more confident expression. I believe this has some contribution to the higher rates of expressed depression and anxiety amongst younger generations. I believe any sort of connection past generations may have had with nature are held by a fraying string and our environment suffers the consequences of our disregard for all life. To cover our disconnect from nature, I believe people have invested time and resources into exploiting others, stretching the margins between humanity across the globe.

I believe “The Great Disconnect” has contributed to our societies loss of identity, fluctuating economy, and depreciating spiritual life, drawing us farther away from the core of our humanity. I believe communities are losing their strength, traditions are being forgotten, and our environment is reflecting the unpredictability of the human mind, extreme heat and extreme cold at unique times. I believe the biggest threats to our civilization are the rise of materialism and the abuse of other’s environments. I believe communities are left in spiritual quicksand, an internal wrestle, a constant struggle, sinking towards meaningless without direction. I believe our society is continually rewriting the foundations of what is right and what is wrong, sometimes in ways that are beneficial for people as a whole, more often than not in ways that are harmful for most and beneficial for some. I believe full collapse or destruction arises out of vulnerability, and we have seen the devastation of cultural and spiritual communities across the globe due to the desire for power and control of others. I would classify the near-devastated communities in our current world as “The Spiritual Frontlines”, communities dealing with the most severe effects of enforced modernization. Similar to Climate Frontlines, I believe “Spiritual Frontlines” are communities who are being forced to transform due to forces outside of their complete control, disconnecting the inhabitants from what they once knew, from what matters to them, their values, community, and harmony they once had with their natural environment.

Community Compass

However, like Climate Change, there are ways we can turn things around to benefit humanity as a whole. I believe “The Great Disconnect” can be stunted by finding new ways to apply compassion within our lives. I believe when we begin to see how connected we are as people, and less at “the other” compassion can grow to uplift traditions, rather than diminish them as primitive or outdated. I believe if society came together to see ourselves as different threads in the human experience, rather than their thread being the most important thread, there will be steps made to unite over our differences rather than divide. I believe our unity can be felt in our environment, leading us to care about the planet we all share and to not use our resources at the expense of others. Last but not least, I believe ethical stewardship will lead to an embrace of humility, where we all appreciate one another for what they bring, rather than trying to conform them to a specific way of thinking. Compassion, unity, stewardship, and humility are a few ways I believe we can turn things around in a period of disconnection from our world, our community, and ourselves.

To reassess your own stewardship, I would encourage you to try to enjoy nature, separate yourself from your routine and take a risk getting to know the culture that has come before you and you live in. To build a foundation of compassion, I would suggest trying to find services you are passionate about and volunteering for those causes to benefit someone else. To realize one’s own humility, I would propose you try to limit your consumption, detaching yourself from materialism, to consider the ethical practices of producing the products you buy.

To support the “Spiritual Frontlines”, I believe we need to highlight the underexposed communities, highlight what has come before you and is indigenous to your region. I believe it’s important to dig through history, and bring light to the hidden stories covered in the visage of our manufactured tapestry. I believe we could benefit from uncovering the drapes and bringing some form of justice to the silenced cultures across the globe.

Compass Invitation

Urge for your world. Believe in your spiritual audience. Become the compass. Put together the broken parts. You hold the solution. Find the key for your life. Consciously ponder fixing. Support your definitions. Add matter to what is vulnerable. Discover the origins of your community. Embody your invitation. Echo your spirituality. Value the eternal. Mystify everyday. Connect your life to your soul.

Bibliography

1. “Definition of compass,” Merriam-Webster: America’s Most Trusted Dictionary, n.d.https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compass. ↩︎