Finding your personal sacred place or space is a critical part of the spiritual practice. Having a location that allows you to find inner peace, and therefore, present moment awareness, gives you an opportunity to take in the spirit of the cosmos while having the time to express gratitude and compassion in return. These sacred places can be found in Nature, or can be created in a corner of an apartment, but no matter where they are located, nurture theses spaces with positive energy and love while you work on your daily practice of transformation.

Throughout my own personal search, I have come to find quite a few sacred places that I hold close to my heart. Below are a top 10 list of my favorites places, in no particular order, that have been sources of inspiration throughout my own journey.

1.)    Sedona, AZ: Hopi Power Spot

In order to welcome in the new millennium in 2000, the Hopi elders made a visit to Sedona to pay their respects to this very special place, which is the equivalent of the Garden of Eden in some Native American creation stories.  When asked to point out one of the most powerful power spots, or vortices, one of the elders chose a place that is not on any of the tourist maps as a possible vortex.  He signaled out a spot just east of Dry Creek Road that is perfectly aligned with the masculine energy of Thunder Mountain and the feminine force at the mouth of Boynton Canyon.  Situated at the epicenter of ley lines, this knoll has become one of my favorite places to meditate and it never fails to energize me beyond my own belief.  Those of you who have joined us on a Sedona retreat will remember it well.  For those who haven’t, you can conjure up its power in your mind’s eye.

2.)    Chicago, IL: Spiral Galaxy Sculpture by the Adler Planetarium

Who says you can’t find perfect peace in the heart of a city?  Chicago’s lakefront offers plenty of opportunities to find it, but my preferred place is on the grassy knoll between the Adler Planetarium and the 12^th St. Beach.  There is a stone sculpture laid out there, representing the spiral shape of the galaxies and symbolizing the unity of the Americas.  The openings of the spiral align with the solstices.  Sitting on a stone in the midst of that spiral, staring at either Lake Michigan or the Chicago skyline, one gets immersed in the vast energy of the cosmos and feels the flow of it swirling all around.  In case you don’t have time to visit it sooner, we are planning a consultation with the I Ching right on this spot on July 24, 2012.

3.)    Chicago, IL: Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond

Beyond the cityscapes, skyscrapers and lake views, Chicago also offers its own version of a Waldon Pond.  On Fullerton Ave., just west of the turn in to Lincoln Park Zoo, there is a gateway to the Alfred Caldwell Pond.  Follow the trail around to the rise behind the southeast part of the pond and you will find a stone circle under the trees.  Here, too, is a place of peace, a point to meditate and look within, where the city vanishes in the depths of the clear pond of our own inner consciousness giving rise to the blooming of the Lotus, or lily pads.

4.)    Caracol, Belize: Mayan site

This being 2012, I decided it was a good time to visit some of the sacred sites of the Mayan civilization to see if I could get a reading on what this great transition of the ages might foretell.  Of all the sites visited, the most complicated to get to and the most rewarding to experience was the temple pyramid at Caracol, deep in the jungle of Belize near the Guatemalan border.  After hours of driving through the muddy roads of the rainforest, one gratefully arrives at this remote site, which was only discovered in 1938 and covers scores of square miles.  Due to its inaccessible location, there were only a handful of tourists there on the day we visited, and by the time we scaled the pyramid we had the place all to ourselves:  myself, my wife Laura and our Mayan guide.  There, in the serenity above the forest canopy, we searched the horizon for miles and then settled in to get a reading on what this year might have to offer.  I sensed a great wellspring of hope for humanity to overcome the challenges we face by listening to our hearts.

5.)    Ibiza, Spain: Snorkeling at Benirras

Since I first set foot on the island in the spring of 1973, Ibiza has captured a good portion of my heart and soul.  Like some kind of modern day siren’s song, it lures me to its shores over and over again.  So much so that the island has become an integral part of my life, and the point of departure for the Greenheart movement.  And as for my favorite activity on the island, that would be snorkeling in the crystalline waters of the sea.  And there is no better spot to do so than in the bay of Benirras, with its huge spire of a rock in the middle of the bay, pointing to the heavens.  And below the surface, meditating with the slow, rhythmic breathe of the relaxed snorkeler, I love to play with the octopi, glide with the flow of soft coral and explore the dark blue recesses of a cave that undulates with feminine energy of the island.  It’s one of the places we plan to discover on our retreat:  Transit to Transformation.

6.)    Madrid, Spain: Parque del Oeste

Madrid has been my primary residence since 1978, and spending so much time in a major city has encouraged me to seek out its offerings of reprieve in nature.  After 34 years, I have found nothing more powerful and meaningful that an area in the West Park (Parque del Oeste) that I discovered on my first trip to the city:   hiking down the hill from the Moncloa arch, there is a natural spring that has been resuscitated and rebuilt into a series of small waterfalls.  There, along the tree-covered path are plenty of places to find one’s inner self.  I have a particular spot along the way where I have had powerful and vivid recollections of a previous incarnation, which liberated me from some karmic baggage and has allowed me to float along with the ever-flowing change of life, like the water cascading down the little stream.

7.)    Le Puy, France

Back in the days when I was a backpacking seeker on the road, I stopped for a night in the town of Le Puy, nestled in the hills of the Massif Central.  Curious spires of ancient volcanic activity create an upward surge of energy that captivates anyone with the slightest sense of geomancy.  What’s more, Le Puy is a pilgrimage point for Christians dating back to Medieval times.  The site of one of the discoveries of the mysterious black virgins, you can look into her eyes in an alcove of a chapel on the tip of one of the spires, and then walk out to the terraced area, feeling both the inward pull of the feminine soul and the outward push of the masculine power.  Off the beaten track as it is, I go out of my way every octave of years or so to visit Le Puy, whose energy seems to keep on throbbing.

8.)    Switzerland, on a mountain top

I was once a resident of the Swiss village of Villars-sur-Ollon and worked there as a member of the ski team.  One afternoon, instead of skiing down to end the day, I took off my skis and hiked up to top of the mountain, Le Chamossaire, as it is known, to watch the sunset over the magnificent view of the Alps.  But it wasn’t the sight of Mt. Blanc or les Dents du Midi that captured my attention, but rather something down below, where several steep spires of rock formed part of the nearly sheer face of the mountain.  There, on these tiny rock needles, were perched various big-horned mountain goats, known as “bouquetin” in French.  I was amazed to see these animals perched in such precarious places for no better reason than to enjoy the view, and have fun, perhaps?  Indeed, that is what they were doing.  And down below sat huddled the younger goats, who awaited their turns to make the treacherous ascent up the spire for the mere sake of, well, learning how to climb the most challenging routes and, I guess, to enjoy the moment.  Although it was many years ago, the vision of those silly goats on those rocks still reminds me that our animal friends, as totems for own life development, remind us to seize the day and live in the moment.

9.)    Egypt: Inner chamber of the Great Pyramid

On a visit to Egypt I had become quite ill with traveler’s stomach, suffering from vomiting and high fever.  Yet it was the day we were scheduled to visit the pyramids of Giza, so I dragged myself out of bed even though I could barely stand on my feet.  Once at the site, we were offered the opportunity to crawl through the narrow passage way to the inner chamber of the pyramid of Cheops.  Faint with nausea, my first thought was to lie down in the shade, but then an inner voice told me to be bold, make the trek, for I might never have the opportunity again.  So I gave it my all and somehow managed to reach the chamber, hoping I might find some energy from the pyramid.  I had, over the years, learned that even tiny crystal pyramid shapes could do things like ripen avocados or sharpen razor blades, so maybe this mother of all pyramids could help me feel better.  It did more than that.  I sat there for a long while, while the endless stream of tourists came and left, first overcoming exhaustion, then slipping into meditation and then feeling better by the minute.  About a fifteen minutes later, I felt perfectly fine.  Whatever intestinal bug that was eating me alive, the pyramid dispensed with it in quick fashion and I was healed.

10.) Anywhere I have built a campfire

Throughout my search, my life and my travels, I have always sought the company of a good campfire.  In the early days, it was still legal and possible to build a fire just about anywhere in the countryside, and as I backpacked and camped I would always build a fire if I could.  These days, anyone who has sat around the fireplace, or even a wood-burning stove with me, will know that I don’t like to leave before the fire has at least turned to embers.  It’s not that I need to talk through the night.  Usually, as the fire burns down, I prefer to be silent and simply watch the flames.  The way a fire consumes itself reveals the great mysteries of the universe.  If it were not for quantum physics, a fire would immediately burn out in what has been called the “ultraviolent catastrophe,” with the flames bursting into the highest energy possible.  But, it doesn’t work that way.  The fire “thinks” its way through life, slowly but surely consuming its fuel source, lapping at the corners of unburned wood, now flaming, now smoking, now flaming again.  And in our contemplation of the fire we find the best metaphor for the soul.  For our own transcendence is like the flame.  It can be passed on, like a burning twig selected to light another pile of wood, but when the original flame has expired, what lives on, the same essence of the original soul fire, or something new?  Maybe it is the universal flame of the spirit, which can accompany us anywhere.  Even these days where it is almost impossible to build a fire on public land, you can always light a candle to your own soul, creating your own sacred space.  And you can set it there, in an alcove of your room, and meditate upon the spirit of nature, with no further need to travel than a favorite corner of your own home and the secret thoughts in your heart. 

Safe travels on the journey, and may you find plenty of sacred spaces along the way…

In this era of new beginnings, taking into consideration the inevitable shift from the material to the spiritual, we must also remember that our relationship with the Earth should change from viewing it as simply a material resource to a spiritual source.  As a point of respect and even reverence, people might say that it’s hard to love a rock, but the Earth is a whole lot more than the third rock from the sun. Understanding the Earth as “Gaia” is helpful in this respect, because the Earth really is a living “being.”

James Lovelock postulated the original Gaia hypothesis which showed how many of the earth’s physical characteristics can adjust themselves to changing conditions, much like our body will respond to severe alterations in the environment.  In this sense, the earth itself can be seen as a living organism. It is like our own bodies, which need to have all the organs and vital systems healthy in order to survive.   Unfortunately, we are weakening the systems that depend on a delicate balance within Nature, that if disrupted, have the potential to collapse entire ecosystems. 

As individuals, we understand this important balance of holistic health within our own bodies. Just as we should care about ourselves, we must treat the Earth with this same compassion. After all, the Earth is quite literally our mother in the sense that it provided the evolutionary crucible out of which Homo sapiens arose.  And just as we show love and respect for our biological mothers, we should do the same with the Earth, as she is the mother of all humanity in the historical perspective of evolution.  There is no better place to find a sense of spirit and to pay our respects to it, than in Nature itself. 

In the book, Measuring the Immeasurable, which describes scientific studies that discern effects in the field of consciousness, many of the contributing writers talk about the spirit in Nature and how Nature is actually comprised of spirit. It’s the link between the spiritual essence and our consciousness. For example, hospital patients in a room with a view of nature heal much more quickly than patients who do not have a view.  When we see the subtle, yet enduring and powerful healing effects of nature, we begin to acquire an emotional connection that takes us to a new level in our appreciation of the Earth.  This emergent caring for the planet goes far beyond not littering, or polluting; it becomes part of our practice to grow and nurture this spirit. This new understanding of Earth as a living organism allows us to then include Nature into our spiritual practice, and in fact, it is an essential element in building our personal practice toward a higher consciousness.

When I say include Nature in your spiritual practice, that doesn’t mean taking a casual stroll in the park, but to really consciously connect during that stroll in the park. Create a communication link with the source of all Nature and make a concerted effort to express gratitude towards it.  In so doing we reconnect with our origins, with the true Spiritual Source of all Being, and thereby experience the Oneness in its purest essence. 

Scientists must embrace this idea of a spiritual source or quantum field of reality that has a purpose for our existence. We might not be able to measure phenomena with the usual methods or machines, but that is no reason to dismiss the spiritual essence that occurs. We are constantly in touch with the Field.” – Emanuel Kuntzelman

In previous posts, I have expressed my excitement for the shift in consciousness that this year of 2012, symbolizes. Even more cause for celebration, in my mind, is the Transit of Venus, that to me, truly marks the beginning of a new era. To honor this important time in our evolution, I am inviting everyone to join together in a Global Oneness Celebration, June 6 beginning at 1 p.m. CDT.

Carl Johan Calleman had called for this celebration 8 year ago, but if anyone missed out on the moment, there is no better time than 2012, to join together to meditate on a positive transformation, world peace and a new state of consciousness which respects the whole. Since humans first started thinking we have been trying to reconcile our individuality, looking for meaning as separate selves.  This transformation now offers an opportunity to see ourselves from a new perspective, as part of the whole, going back to the Oneness from which we came. 

According to the Maya, this transition into a new cycle is set to occur on Dec. 21, 2012, but this date has taken on so many connotations that I think it will help our understanding of the New Era to celebrate the Transit of Venus as our transformative shift. What I’m proposing is a 2012 Global Oneness Celebration:  a worldwide peace meditation to ring in this new cycle. For those participating in the Transit to Transformation retreat in Ibiza, we will hold a peace meditation at Casita Verde, followed by an organic dinner and mini music festival starting at 8 p.m. in Ibiza to coincide with the 1 p.m. CDT celebration events.  For those of you who won’t be able to be with us in person in Ibiza, please put the date on your calendar to join us in meditation on June 6.

For peace and oneness,

Emanuel

As we approach new beginnings on the grand scale of the universe, it is very important for us to take a look at ourselves and readjust what we can do on an individual level to coincide with the shift in cosmic consciousness.  Even as the largest cycles come full circle, let’s not forget the smaller ones; every day inside our selves there can be a new season of hope.  Spring is a week away, and with this comes rebirth, growth and renewal. The sun and warmer temperatures can help motivate and inspire a personal spring cleaning of our own spirit, and this begins with positive energy.  How can we clean up the debris of our personal past and start fresh, like the first flowers of spring?

I found some real inspiration on this topic the other day after re-discovering a book by Ervin Laszlo, one of the human potential thinkers that I most admire.  While scanning my bookshelf I came across his book:  You Can Change the World:  The Global Citizens Handbook for Living on Planet Earth. This little book with a big title was published in 2003, but I still found it held some fascinating information.

What really excited me was a chapter contributed by Masami Saionji, author and peace activist, who wrote on “How you can invite Happiness.”

Within this part, she discusses cause and effect, and essentially karma, although she never specifically mentions the word. In this chapter, Saionji goes back to the old adage: what came first, the chicken or the egg? Which one is the cause and which the effect? When we apply this riddle to our emotional states, we usually choose to focus on “cause” as what came first, assuming our present state is conditioned by some previous event.

We are conditioned to pinpoint the cause of our psychological state in order to change the effect. For example:  Today, I’m feeling a little down. What was the cause of that? Well, I was thinking maybe it’s because I don’t like my job. The cause of that? I took a job that wasn’t the best because I didn’t have a great educational background.  And the cause of that is because I didn’t study very hard in high school because I was too busy taking care of my younger brothers because my parents were too busy because, because, because, to infinity.

The point is if we start looking for the causes of how we are feeling, we will never get to the problem, because the causes are endless. This tactic for naming the cause of our effect is time consuming and often fruitless, and this applies to our individual emotional states on up to ethnic tensions, religious quarrels and worldwide disputes. Rather than thinking of cause and effect as a linear relationship, let’s turn it around and think of the effects creating causes. Effect and Cause. What does that mean? Start right now, let’s create an effect. “I’m happy.”

This effect will create a cause: me being happy will cause people around me to be happy, which will cause others to connect with others to change their minds, etc. So with this simple flip flop of this karmic process, we have liberated ourselves from looking backwards and trying to analyze a past we cannot change. We are freed to say, “I can create my effect.” Suddenly, I have this effect that I am exuberantly happy, conscious and emanating joy and love. The minute you do this, than your effect is transmitting good vibrations outward and onward.

Saionji’s concept is so simple and beautiful and empowering. It gives karma this whole new light. Karma, rather than being this burden of all the baggage of our past weighing on our soul, suddenly becomes this enlightening awareness of the future. I am making an effect happen, starting in the here and now, and affecting a cause of happiness and positivity.

We live our lives based on cycles. From the seconds, minutes and hours, on up to the lunar and sun cycles that create our natural rhythms; we operate and synchronize within cyclical patterns. Expanding this idea to the universe as a whole, it is logical to assume that in some ways, the entire universe is one large cycle in which our consciousness is connected, and it’s this very idea of entrainment between consciousness and the flow of the cosmos that fascinated the Maya. Their studies of the stars allowed them to understand the flow of these cycles on a very large scale.

In this important year of 2012, the Maya believed that on Dec. 21, we will usher in the fifth sun cycle and shift into a brand new era. Providing the foundation for such a proclamation was their incredible knowledge about, what we refer to as, the precession of the equinoxes, or the 26,000 year cycle it takes for our orientation to the night sky to move 360 degrees. As the Earth wobbles on its axis, our orientation to the constellations changes as the solar system rotates around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Astronomically speaking, this means the plane of our solar system will cross over our galactic equator.

Interestingly enough, this 26,000 year journey around the Milky Way just so happens to match the estimated number of light years the Earth is from the center of the galaxy.  What an incredible coincidence that the solar system’s cycle around the center of the galaxy matches the distance in light years the Earth is from the center of the galaxy. This seems like another example of cosmic entrainment, and it is no small detail that as we cross the center of our galactic equator, the light that began bursting from the center of the galaxy when the current cycle began will finally reach our eyes.

What were the Maya hoping to understand by studying these cycles on such a large scale? They were trying to understand our position and relationship to the cosmos as time flows. They understood that cycle upon cycle builds up to bigger moments of significance. Just as we might say one second is meaningless, but that second builds up to a minute, then an hour, a day, and to a month; these cycles get bigger and more important and meaningful as they expand. This was the Maya’s way of showing their ultimate respect and love for the universe, and it was a natural way to document their events.

Observing this almost immaculate precision of the movement of the cosmos was a practice in patience and reverence to the universe. The precession of the equinox only changes one degree every 72 years. This means that while the Maya were observing this subtle movement, a given lifespan might not have even lasted long enough to detect a shift of one degree. This was a scientific approach that would have passed from generation to generation.

Granted, there is plenty of room for error in the measurement of these grand cycles. Some astronomers have pointed out that this precise moment could happen anywhere in a period of 18 years. So it is a little arbitrary to say the exact day of a shift is Dec. 21, 2012. But for the purpose of the symbolic representation, this year of 2012 will be our time of transformation and one of great significance.

Visualizing the entrainment of such large cosmic cycles– the synchronization of the Earth’s wobble on its axis, as the galaxy rotates within the universe, all moving together– is when we can realize the beauty in this connection of consciousness and cosmos.

Within these cycles, there is another very interesting movement of the planet Venus that also fascinated the Maya. Every 124 years there is a repeated cycle of Venus, where we have an eclipse of this planet crossing between the earth and the sun as a black spot traversing across the face of the sun – a process that lasts 7 hours. Almost exactly 8 years later, this transit of Venus is repeated, and it was this synchronization of movement that was highly symbolic to the Maya. Venus represented the rise and fall of Quetzalcoatl from the underworld, the rebirth.

I should give some credit to Carl Johan Calleman. In his book, The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness, Calleman explains the great significance of this Transit of Venus. He felt this cycle was so important to the Maya that he also called for a Oneness Celebration in 2004. Don’t fret if you missed the first gathering, as we have another opportunity on June 6, 2012.

In this very significant year, the end of this large cycle, there is a phase two of a transit of Venus happening on June 6. Without going any deeper into astronomy and the rotation of the galaxy and Maya symbolism, I will jump to my own conclusion and say this transit of Venus, both astronomically and symbolically, really heralds the new era.

To honor this important event, I’m proposing a worldwide Oneness Celebration on June 6, 2012. Beginning at 1 p.m., CST, I’m calling for like-minded groups, individuals and cohorts in consciousness around the world to join us in a Gaia meditation for Oneness, which will also coincide with our Transit to Transformation retreat in Ibiza where our participants will also be taking part in the celebration. I really feel that in the mind’s eye of universal consciousness, we can see this moment as a true beginning of a new era of consciousness–when we literally see the light of the dawn of the spiritual transformative age.

These grand cycles, and the Mayan efforts are really important to me, and the more I read about this incredible year in books by John Major Jenkins, Calleman and Paul LaViolette, the more excited I become. Now, whether or not people physically feel anything on these major calendar events is not the point, it’s about human consciousness and synchronizing with the cosmos to shift toward a positive transformation.  We are going to see things from a different angle.

Just like when we cross the equator, a lot of things shift, the magnetic field changes, the spiral action of water even changes direction. So, if that is happening just by walking across the equator – expand that by 26,000 light years and think how significant it could be to astronomically and psycho-spiritually cross into a new  and a huge cosmic turning point. I genuinely believe something will shift in the way we view our world and how we will live as a society.  May it all begin with the transit of Venus on June 6!

If 2012 truly represents a total shift in perspectives, and I think it does, then what is it we are shifting into?  It is clear that we are changing from an age dominated by thousands of years of material influence to a more spiritual orientation, but there are many other binary changes in our general orientation as well, one of the most important of which is the crossover from the masculine to the feminine.  You don’t have to look very far into history to realize that, with only a few exceptions in tribal societies, men have dominated the sociopolitical scene since the beginning of Homo sapiens.  The result is that our civilization is way out of balance.  After millennia of too much yang—competition, aggression, and exploitation, we are way overdue for some yin—compassion, cooperation and nurturing care.

I don’t want to imply that men are all bad, but too much of any one thing is not such a good thing.  We really need some balance in life, and celebrating International Women’s Day is a wonderful way to appreciate the feminine nature.  After so many years of the growth of society topped off with the industrial revolution and the technology boom, it is high time to stop just building and start caring for all the stuff that has been created.  And that includes Mother Earth herself.  After all these years of selflessly giving everything she’s got, the Earth could do well with a bit of love and respect, just as all the women of the world are due.

So, here’s to you ladies!!  We need you to lead corporations and countries.  We need you to help the world make peace, not war.  Our infant spiritual society needs you like a baby does its mother’s milk.  Nourish and shower our world with your calm care. To the unrecognized, wonderful women around the globe we recognize the need for your leadership.  In fact, you are already showing it in so many ways.  In our Greenheart retreats, seminars, workshops, book clubs, and in CCI itself, there is always a large majority of women in all our activities.  I’m not sure where the guys are, maybe sitting home on their butts looking over their finances and watching sports on TV, but I sure hope more men are inspired by these strong women to join in the transformation.

As 2012 ushers in the great new age of spirituality, it will be the feminine energy that brings balance to our global shift. It will be the compassion and strength of women that will lead us forward in our upcoming transformation.

Spirit in Nature; this phrase strikes me as almost redundant that one should even need to explain the presence of spirit in nature. The question arises as a result of the long trajectory of the materialistic paradigm that has caused society to see itself separate from nature. We are not. Human beings are living, breathing animals and part of the ecosystem of the cosmos, just as every other living thing. This idea of oneness in the cosmos isn’t a debate, and not only is it not a debate, but I’ll go one step further and say nature is the manifestation of spirit. Ergo, nature is spirit.

While that might sound like a bold statement, if we go back to the beginning it becomes very clear how this spiritual presence is evident. Accepting the Big Bang Theory, scientists are actively working to describe that primordial quantum field of potentiality and energy from which our universe sprang. Consciousness bore materiality. In the first initial moments, it wasn’t a material property, but light, that exploded into the universe.

Light is the fascinating link between the spiritual and the material. Light has no mass, no electrical charge, and no properties of rotation. The speed of light itself is what defines the limits of the observable universe of space/time. Light also has intelligence; it will follow the path of least resistance so it can most quickly get to its destination. This is known as the law of least action. We see this when we watch a sunset. The light from the sun is curving around the earth’s atmosphere to reach our eyes in the quickest route; much like a commuter would drive a few miles further to take the fast-moving expressway to avoid the city streets that are congested, and therefore slower.

Our universe was created with intelligence, as we can see from light’s many amazing properties. This spiritual source that seems so difficult to define can be found all around us. This energy field which is in a sense, pure spirit, became nature.  Nature is what connects us to that Spiritual Source and is our gateway to understanding the divine essence within ourselves and our connection to the Oneness.

As such, the real source of our sense of spirituality can be found in the natural environment around us. Does nature give us spiritual strength? Absolutely. Patients in hospitals that have rooms with a view of nature recover far quicker than those without a window or a view of a natural setting. Patients with dementia who have access to a garden have 30 times less behavioral problems than those without a garden. Students do better in retaining information and in their testing, than those without access to nature. Being in contact with the nature promotes healing, well-being and an overall improved state of consciousness.

Despite all the research supporting the importance of connecting with the natural outdoors, there is a growing disconnect from nature that raises serious concerns. As Thoreau says; “In wildness, is the preservation of the world.” As our truly, wild nature reserves are disappearing and we have less access to natural retreats, we risk being cut off from our Spiritual Source. If we think of the increasing number of people living in harsh urban environments with only traffic and cement to communicate with, it’s no wonder we are having a few psychological disturbances and wondering where the spiritual nature in our lives has gone.

I think this is one of the downsides of the technological revolution. Obviously, technology provides us with a lot of great tools, but the amount of time we spend with our devices, talking on cellphones, on the computer and watching television, means we are immersed in some kind of variation of electromagnetic wave energy that is bombarding our senses. This can’t be an altogether good thing.

I would encourage everyone to get back to nature. Walk down a street with trees on it, take a break in the park and get out of a city on the weekend. Find your personal full, magical connection with nature and tap into this powerful spiritual energy. According to the Gaia hypothesis, our earth is a living being, and like all living beings, energy is not equally distributed.

Just as our heart emits the most powerful energy from of our body, so the earth has its veins and arteries and own heart system. When we get to places that manifest these energy nodes, both in their natural beauty and with the flow of energy together, that combined affect is literally awesome. We are filled with this inexplicable sensation of joy and self-expression. We can sometimes literally feel Mother Nature’s love pulsating through us.

There are very significant points throughout the world that focus the flow of the earth’s energy and emit this spiritual essence. These special places can be found in numerous locations, and for me, Sedona, Arizona and Ibiza, Spain offer a perfect example of the earth’s stronger energy points.  Ibiza pulsates with a special feminine energy of love and compassion.

There are different sources of energy within these sacred spots. Animals and vegetation are energy transmitters, and it should be no surprise that water is a very powerful carrier of energy. Even our sense of beauty corresponds with these higher energy levels emitted by nature.

What is really exciting, however, is our ability to influence these energy levels within our environment. Our consciousness is producing nature with every thought, idea and action we make at every moment. Being aware of the quality of our energy is extremely important when we talk about individual and social transformation. If we can grasp the responsibility we have to emit positive, constructive energy, we can successfully transform the world.

To grasp this concept, imagine walking down a busy street, passing people every few seconds venting to their friends on a cell phone. These comments affect us, and their negative energy emissions are in the universe forever. Carelessly expressing negativity is the equivalent of throwing your litter on the highway. We are unconsciously polluting the nature of the quantum field with all the garbage our minds dump out on a daily basis.

In a year symbolizing new beginnings, let’s show a new level of respect and gratitude to the nature around us, connect with our spiritual source in a positive way and be present in the Oneness that envelops us in our daily lives as we seek out our very own special place in Nature.

- Emanuel Kuntzelman

Recently, I have been inspired by the book; “Measuring the Immeasurable; the Scientific Case for Spirituality,” published by Sounds True.  It is a compilation of articles supporting the scientific case for spirituality by today’s big names like Peter Russell, Marilyn Schlitz, Daniel Goleman, Bruce Lipton and Gregg Braden, to name a few. One article in particular that really caught my attention was “Gratitude, the Science and Spirit of Thankfulness” by Robert Emmons, in which he builds the case of gratitude being an important part of our growth in life.

For gratitude to be truly effective, we have to be detached from the expectations of reciprocation, or the sense of obligation in our gratefulness. Our feeling must be for the sake of gratitude in the spiritual essence.

In their studies on the importance of gratitude, two experiment groups were observed. One group kept a daily gratitude journal, recording all the things that happened during the day that they were grateful for – including positive states, alertness, enthusiasm and positive energy. The other group was asked to write down any daily interactions, including problems, challenges and frustrations in their journals for a series of months. Not given any prompts to include moments of gratitude, these journals were filled with content that mostly reflected frustrations. 

At the conclusion of the study, it was found that the group with the gratitude journals showed better sleep patterns, better health, and more positive psychological states of mind. As a whole, they were more loving, forgiving and enthusiastic than the other group. The gratitude group was also much more likely to support the statement that; “Life is a gift instead of a burden. I often reflect how much easier my life is because of the efforts of others.”

What really caught my attention was Emmons’ mention that in general, people with a monotheistic belief system exhibit more gratitude than those who do not believe in a creator. It seems that people who believe in the idea of a personal god or as some sort of anthropomorphic personality, father/mother image, have an easier time expressing their gratitude.  If a person has a personal dialogue with god, on a psychological level, it helps one express gratitude. We usually thank people, not abstract notions, for things. We don’t usually sit around saying “thank you” to the quantum field, for example.

This really got me thinking about this notion of gratitude, because in relation to my own life, I don’t believe in a personal god. I wouldn’t define myself as a secular Humanist, but I’m more of a spiritual Humanist. I do believe very strongly in the spiritual nature of the universe. To me, consciousness is a spiritual force and the field source of everything is, in effect, spirit and energy. This is the quantum nature of reality.  I believe in an evolutionary state of spirituality and deeply respect the Source and the marvels of the universe, and believe the purpose of the universe was to bring us to this point, to reflect upon our own consciousness.

Being a spiritual Humanist rather than a devout theist, I began to realize that perhaps I have been more limited in my ability to express gratitude. This made me understand that gratitude really is this driving moral fiber of compassion in the world. Monotheists connect this ability to express gratitude with compassion and moral values, because having a god to express this feeling allows one to really engage in compassion.

It really is a warm and natural way for the human psyche to connect our gratitude to a god image, like a “perfect image” to have a deeper and more profound innate need for expressing gratitude. I got so excited about this because it helped me conceptualize why, perhaps, the spiritual humanist and the secular scientist, who believe in the beauty and wonder of the evolutionary impulse, might not express the same emotional vigor as a theist.

As we evolve psycho-spiritually, we begin to understand that this personal god in heaven is a mechanism for the sake of the psychological needs of humans. But the more we understand consciousness, and quantum mechanics, the more awe-inspiring the universe becomes, without any need to formulate a personal god. Thinking of it in this perspective, I began to realize that with this profound, scientific understanding of spirit in nature that the spiritual humanist had plenty of reasons to express gratitude that could have previously been missing.

A lover of Nature can feel that same vital energy of true love without having to direct this emotion toward a god. So I began to practice gratitude throughout the day, whenever I had a spare moment to do so. It really opened up my heart and mind and embellished the state of my spiritual core. It put a coat of polish on it, and I think that I have been feeling psychically better with more energy as a result of practicing gratitude.

We’ve done ourselves a disservice of detaching compassion from science. If anything, it should be the opposite. The scientific observation of nature goes beyond the psychological need for god, and arrives at the depth of the true Spiritual Source. To embrace this experience of gratefulness within Nature, Emmons gives a technique to improve one’s gratitude called the AIM model of gratitude.  This acronym stands for:

A: Attention – Becoming aware of blessings we normally take for granted.

I: Interpretation – This is the conscious decision to see blessings instead of burdens. We are no longer victims of circumstances and are grateful beings by these interpretations.

M: Memory – When we need to draw on renewed strength, we can tap into positive, grateful memories. This is why religious traditions are so strong, but now it’s time for scientists to start creating their own memories of spirit.  Whether from a theistic or scientific starting point, we can all come to the same conclusion:  a sense of gratitude for the wonders of the universe enhances the quality of our lives. 

So, take aim, fine tune our attention and interpretation, and we can all express our gratitude to the spirit within Nature.  In return, we just might receive an unexpected reward in the sense of joy, especially if our thankfulness is sent unconditionally– not to appease any god, but simply to send our love out to the wonder of nature.  What we receive in return may have a whole lot to do with the state of our spirituality.