Welcoming Embodied Christ Energy
Spiritual Energy Part 2
In part one, we explored living in the energy of Christ. Christ is the Christian symbol of the divine reality present in incarnation, in the whole of the material world. For us, this is an invitation to welcome a new reality of experiencing spiritual energy at the contact point between spirit and matter within ourselves. This is living in awakened consciousness in tune with the embodied presence of our physical being. This was the promise to the first followers of Jesus:
“You will receive energy when spirit (consciousness) comes upon you” (Acts 1:8).
And this is still something we can experience today, even more so! So how can we welcome this reality into our lives today?
Notice first the passive nature of this process at the start. It is primarily something we receive. It comes upon us by experiencing Christ in an inner experience or a personal transmission from another. After we welcome and receive it, then we begin to cultivate and share in it!
Receiving Spiritual Energy
What excitement will renew your body
When we all begin to see
That His heart resides in
Everything?
- Hafiz
This energy of Christ comes when we awaken beyond our minds into fuller consciousness (spirit). This is not strictly “higher” consciousness, but a fuller, deeper consciousness of being that comes from within and among.
We can receive this energy from within, awakening to the divine, spondic source of ever-flowing energy in the depths of our being. This word spondic is the descriptor that Beatrice Bruteau used to describe an unending, continual energy birthed from God within.
In my own experience, in the midst of a dark night and the stripping away of all my ego energy, I came upon this word and her description of this deep inner source. In that moment, it irrupted within me. The fountain flowed. My heart suddenly was full of radiant bliss and vibrant energy. I was awakened to the spring within, the divine interflow in my body. It has never left.
“God irrupts in the center of your being, as that fountain of living water that makes you to be . . . I call this energy irruption spondic because it pours out like a sacred libation.”
This path within is often a long journey that might include spiritual death before new life, a loss of egoic drive, or a necessary “being spent” of the common forces of human endeavor. Some discover this irruption of energy as a pure, gratuitous gift, striking them in the midst of life unaware. Others may feel the energy gradually unfolding over time. And some will grow frustrated, as the resurrection of new life energy is frequently lost in the primacy of methodology in many spiritual practices—the path becoming the goal.
Perhaps more commonly and effectively, we can also receive this energy through transmission coming from among us. This is often emphasized in guru spirituality, but can also happen in community settings like our WeSpace groups. We see both in scripture, like Jesus healing the woman who touched the hem of his garment or the early followers of Jesus practicing “the laying on of hands.” Tuning into the higher frequency of spiritual reality as a group can have the effect of charging, or passing on the energy, as happened in the early church gatherings.
This was the experiential understanding of “the baptism of spirit” at that time—what we might today understand as a dying of old consciousness and a raising of new consciousness, or spirit. This is a fuller and deeper understanding of the common tribal symbolism in being “baptized” or “born again” as a group initiation ritual. It is an energetic awakening to a new state of being.
Cultivating Spiritual Energy
The process of welcoming Christ energy and discovering it within you is not always a direct unfolding. Sometimes it takes patience, further inner work, and guided attunement. Sometimes we discover blockages that hold us back.
But for the most part this energy is available if we can move into the radiant center of our heart that emanates love and bliss. The more we practice moving there, the easier it will become. We can do this in our individual practice and with others.
As we continue to welcome the energy of Christ in our body, we find that the quality of this energy is profoundly affecting our felt sense of being in our day-to-day, moment-to-moment reality. It is always there, but we don’t always feel it. We may find that we need to intentionally “connect the circuit” to engage in it. Other times it may rise up of its own accord and swell in our hearts or body. The more we work with it, the more natural its flowing presence will begin to feel.
I sometimes find myself these days experiencing an arising of general anxiety, a compulsion to fear and grasp at control in the midst of so much being unknown in this global pandemic. In those moments, I move to my heart space, to the energetic bliss that is now always present. It doesn’t remove or eliminate the other feelings, nor bypasses their reality. But it tunes me into the deeper reality of the heart of God residing within all things, including my own body. It floods me with love and often washes away the constriction, the anger, and the loneliness.
Energy Attracts
“To perceive cosmic energy ‘at the fount’ we must, if there is a within of things, go down into the internal or radial zone of spiritual attractions.”
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Discovering and engaging Christ energy is not something we do alone. Indeed, it is much harder and perhaps even a little diminished when we do it solely by ourselves. This may be the opposite of what we’re used to from many of our spiritual practices, which are often laid out as individual paths independent of one another.
When we go down to the source of this energy, we discover a deep attraction to that which is beyond the confines of our individual self. We discover the spiritual truth that we are not separate from one another. The energy within compels us not only to acknowledge this truth as a perspective viewpoint but to manifest this “unimaginable reality of collective bonds” as Teilhard calls it.
There is a magnetism to one another. The deep surge of love propels us toward others who are dwelling in this energy. Moving into this space of connection with each other is what we do in our WeSpace groups. We are weaving together the manifestation of the sacred in our lives. We are sharing in the energy of the Christ presence and, in so doing, increasing our capacity not only to hold, but also to be conduits and channels of that love for ourselves, for one another, and for the world.
You are invited to participate in this practice if you so desire. WeSpace groups are enrolling now. Come join with us in welcoming the energy of Christ.
This energy affects not only within, but also in how we are able to live in the world. How we go about as transmitters and bearers of “the light of the world.” Next week we will explore this movement of spiritual energy of mystical consciousness in connection with serving the world.