There’s been a lot of conversation lately in the spiritual side of social media about starseeds, 5th dimensions, evolving above, staying high vibe, crossing timelines/dimensions and other similar ideas. And while I can appreciate the want to evolve and improve and become better people, there’s an interesting focus that I’ve noticed that feels like getting away.

For me, I love the earth. The Earth. The big blue planet in the great black inkiness of space that we’re spinning around on. I love being incarnated, in a body, having earthly experiences. The taste of food, the feel of the wind in my hair and rain on my skin. The smell of rain before it falls, and flowers in spring and fireplaces in winter. I love exhausted in my muscles after dancing or cleaning and how heavy my body feels in bed after a long day and the taste of soft, roasted garlic, spread across fresh and warm sourdough. Being a human in a living body is full of amazing experiences, even if I do also experience chronic pain and migraines and so many other health issues (hello to my fellow chronic illness sufferers). 

I can understand wanting there to be something more perfect to look forward to. Life is hard and uncomfortable and there’s so much suffering in it, and it feels like it gets harder every year (are we getting older or are things ACTUALLY getting harder?). Maybe it seems more sensible to set aside wants, goals, and pleasure in this life in exchange for a better life in the next one.

On the other hand, we are all here in this life right now. This world is so beautiful and this life has so many incredible experiences to offer that it feels ungrateful to not accept them. On a more personal note, an afterlife isn’t guaranteed, and right now (thought this may change), I don’t currently believe in one. Without an afterlife that includes an individual and separate consciousness, this is my one glorious life. As a person with both morals AND ethics, I won’t be committing any acts of atrocities, but I also want to enjoy the time I have.

While I’ve been turning this idea over the last couple weeks, I started school. And one of the classes I’m taking is a psychology class which touched briefly on the idea of how we think of ourselves as minds that pilot bodies, like wayward vehicles that must be tamed and disciplined, separate from our minds. That this disconnect cascades outwards to how we see ourselves as individuals, separate from society, a species separate from other animals, and also separate from the world we live on. Our perceptions are based on these compartmentalized boxes where we aren’t part of anything because we aren’t even unified in ourselves. So we need to learn to think of ourselves as “bodyminds” instead of “minds in bodies” – a whole holistic being. 

It’s interesting to see a similar premise in psychology as the idea I’ve been turning over in spirituality – noticing this division, where folks are trying to see themselves separate from the world, their bodies, and this incarnation and keeping their attention on the next on, and in psychology where there’s an observation of “minds in bodies” instead of “bodyminds.”