An Embodied Independence Day

Embodiment is the Foundation of Independence

Our problems right now are not just about infrastructure and misinformation—we are facing problems of Spirit. We have been trained to worship idols of authority, wait for ethical approvals from religion, and hope for salvation from technology.

Too often, even people who leave mainstream religion and disdain corporate greed turn around and fall into traps of secret societies, cults, and specialty gurus who promise them transcendence. 

They find new names for their worship, but the system doesn’t change.

To change the foundations of a society, the beliefs have to change first. We have to see the world differently. We have to find new spiritual footing to create a new world.

Of course, this is risky talk. The world of spirituality is replete with hidden agendas, false impressions, and overblown egos. Plenty of people will promise you a key to the gates of some version of heaven…for a price.  

And almost always, that price is staying stuck in the old system: worshipping idols of someone else’s authority, waiting for ethical approval, hoping for salvation from someone else. 

There is nothing supernatural about religion. There is nothing supernatural about economics or governments or technology either.

We the people made them. 

We the people can un-make them. 

We the people can re-make them.

And it starts here with recognizing that spirituality is not separate from real life. Temples and Cathedrals and secret societies have never owned divinity. God never put a gate around the heavens. She did not design freedom as a luxury product for the rich or the celibate.

You can find it in the ocean,

in the morning fog,

in a single tree somewhere on your street,

in one beautiful song,

in one bite of amazing food,

in one sunset,

And a billion other moments. 

You can be rich in these moments. You can be rich in these moments today. 

In fact, maybe the most important thing you can do to change-save-heal-help the world right now is to get rich like this. Get quiet, slow down, soften into the life, the freedom, the spirit that is here for you, now.

Because when you free your spirit, you break the chains on one small corner of the world. 

Then, you become that much more capable of helping someone else do it too.

You can’t fix everything. Neither can I. But we can do this.

Slow down, listen to your body. 

Feel everything. The pain, the grief, the longing, the wildness, the ferocity, the joy. 

There is still good in this world and it’s worth fighting for. It’s also worth resting for and experimenting for. 

What if today, you revise your follows to include only the people you actually want to hear from? 

What if you worship every humble drip of water? 

What if you…

Talk to a tree,

Honor the wisdom of your tastebuds, 

Take a nap,

Refuse the rage-bait,

Have a good experience with no pictures?

What if you just let yourself be here? 

What if you let your body free your spirit? 

What would you do if you knew you were already free?

You don’t need to feed the machines of corruption with your attention. You don’t need to worship buildings that house no spirit. You don’t need anyone else to show you the way back to heaven.

You are the key to the future.

You always have been. 

Declare your spiritual independence.

“Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”

Thomas Paine