The Creator Spirit

To understand reality as an intricate web of relationships is, as we saw in our earlier article, to place ourselves at the heart of that experience which allows modern cosmology to speak of spirit. Through this, it coincides with the cross-cultural traditions of humanity.   Spiritus for the Romans, pneuma for the Greeks, ruah for the Hebrew people, mana for the Melanesians, axé for the Yoruba and Nago of Africa and their descendants in the Americas, wakan for the Dakota Indians, ki for the people of northeast Asia, for the Chinese - the names matter little. We are always referring to an original energy which passes through everything, which makes the universe a vast organism and which manifests itself as an emerging reality, fluctuating and open to the new - in a word, as life and spirit.

Animism ( animus = spirit) was what captured this dimension of reality. As renowned anthropologists like E.B. Taylor concluded, animism does not form a magical vision. Rather, it is a cohesive way to look at the universe and each thing from the principle of interaction, life and spirit. We modern people are also animists in our way to the extent that we experience the world affectively and not just as a neutral object. Everything has worth and transmits a message - animals, trees, winds, houses, and people. All, by their presence, have a dynamism which affects us and makes us interact. They are spirit bearers because they speak and are loaded with symbolism. Because of this irradiation, poetry, art, and inspiration in all fields of knowledge, even in the most formal field of physics, are possible.

Shamanism springs from this view of reality. The shaman is not just an enthusiast but someone who has access to cosmic energy and makes it beneficial to human beings through sounds, rituals, and dances. Everyone has a shamanic dimension which, when awakened, helps us to be in tune with the dynamic equilibrium of all things. When we talk about the human spirit, we are not referring to a part, but to the whole human being, to his or her way of being self-aware, capable of perceiving the whole and of being a knot of relationships going in every direction.

The original source of all being has often been called Spirit. To say that "God is Spirit" is to express God in the framework of life, communication, creativity, passion and love. It's worth saying that the Energy which underlies all other energy, fills all space and time, and continues to create and renew, is the Spiritus Creator . Christians profess in their creed: "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life..." The expression "the Lord, the Giver of Life" speaks to the connection of the Spirit with life and the "spirit" of creation. It is revealed in us as enthusiasm ("having God within" in Greek). The Spirit is in all things and all things are in the Spirit. This is "pan-en-espiritualismo" ("all in the Spirit") and is similar to "pan-en-teísmo" ("all in God" - which is not the same as pantheism).

From the East comes this little poem which reflects this mutual presence well: "The Spirit sleeps in the stone, dreams in the flower, awakens in the animal, and knows that it is awake in the human being." Such a vision gives rise to a fertile cosmic-ecological mysticism. We find ourselves immersed in a field of absolute Energy which feeds the energy of the universe and our own spiritual energy and life force.

Free translation from the Spanish provided by Annefullerton@mybluelight.com
Done in Arlington, VA in cooperation with Refugio del Rio Grande, Texas.