To be spiritually healthy, one has to be connected in five ways (connecting with God, connecting with other people, connecting with nature, connecting with the physical world, and connecting with oneself.) This post will consider the fourth of these five ways. The remaining way will be considered in a following post.
To be spiritually healthy we need to be connected with the physical world around us. Some cultures understand this idea very well. They understand that they are connected to the land and that what happens to the land, to the water, to the air, or to anything else has an impact on them.
Even the Christian culture understands the concept. In Genesis 2:7 we are told that God formed man out of the dust of the ground. We are connected to the elements because they are a part of us. To ignore them is to ignore ourselves.
Even people who reject the creation story and go with the idea of the “Big Bang” still can’t get away from the idea that we are connected with the physical world around us. It’s fairly common for those people to talk about our being made up of stardust, that what formed the stars came together to form who we are.
What I’m saying is that no matter where you start, with a massive explosion that started everything, or with God forming the world and then forming mankind out of the dust of the ground, we are connected to the rocks and minerals of the ground. If we deny that connection, we are cutting off one aspect of spirituality.
Obviously, we aren’t to worship rocks or minerals. We are, however, to respect them and live with them in a way that recognizes they are part of God’s creation and honors them for what they are.
Being spiritual is about being aware of and respecting all the ways we are connected to God.
Ross T Lucas 