I’ve never felt ready to talk about spiritual beliefs, my own, anyway.
Belief in a deity, or not, is such a controversy for humans, polarizing. That bearded old man in the sky is too much a stretch for me, and I think maybe for most people. But buying into that poetic image gives us a personification that’s hard to let go of, and hard to say it’s something else. What then? OK here’s a try.
If it’s Mother Nature, Peace, Life Spirit, the Goddess (if we must play with gender) the Health of Things, Energy (matter and energy trade places we know now), Systems, well, I’ll go with all that. And this power, this force, this balance, deserves our reverence and attention. OK. Gotta keep this thing going - yeah, that all makes sense to me.
But in this giant, unfathomable maybe infinite universe, the idea that’s there’s something, someone, who watches over us and can be summoned to intervene in petty human issues is just too fantastic a dream - or nightmare. I wrote a poem, speaking to the “God of the Two Black Holes” that collided, and go on from there to make fun out of the enormous total universe that’s out there.
We think it’s about us, but I’d say the universe story is more about molecules, and bacteria and the viruses that want to hijack them. And don’t forget fungi. Whatever other life forms that don’t need water, or air, that we don’t know about yet, I’m sure we will someday. Who’s the God of that?
So – it all could be described as magic, but I’ve come to use the word “spirit.” I put it in quotes because it’s beyond description, but that’s what I call it. My friends like to say that there are things, the Earth for one, that are sacred. But many seem to stop short of the word “holy.” I’m referring to those friends who don’t subscribe to the religions where holy is bandied around, and I respect that. Maybe I have too many friends that are healing from organized religion. A friend many years ago when we were young, a woman who became an Episcopal Priest, used to say “That fills me with the ‘HS’” – meaning Holy Spirit – so I’m reminded of that often. My friend, visionary songwriter Peter Mayer, wrote the song “Everything is Holy Now,” and you should listen to that.
I made this song some time ago, and I haven’t used it that much. Maybe because I have gotten these critiques, or I’m imagining it. Only in places that celebrate such things do I feel secure that it will go over. Trying it for the wider audience? Maybe I’ve been just too cautious. I’m going to venture it here, I hope it goes over with you.
(You can find this song on my album “Gather the Spirit”. And I’ll be singing and talking about these things and more during my next Livestream Concert, Wednesday June 17th at 8PM EDT on Facebook and Youtube. More details in a few days.)
If There is No Holy Spirit ©2007 Jim Scott
If there is no holy spirit,
What sets the rhythm of the beating heart?
If there is no holy spirit
What holds together lovers who are far apart?
What conducts the winds in their travels from far?
If there is no holy spirit, what fire burns
In every fleeting star?
If there is no holy spirit
From what wisdom does compassion rise?
If there is no holy spirit
How does simple water focus light through human eyes?
What wisdom sent the rain from the fleeting clouds above?
If there is no holy spirit
What defines a parent’s love?
Who can explain elusive senses
That inform the artist’s brave creation
Something greater - takes you higher,
Resonates in inspiration
That brings the healing to a troubled heart
suspending time, erasing separation,
Suspending time...
If there is no holy spirit
How do plants take the strength of a distant sun
If there is no holy spirit,
How is a fragile life begun?
What turns this living earth
From the Winter toward the Spring
If there is no holy spirit,
What moves in every living thing?
In the spirit of the moment
has this song reached you somehow?
If there is no holy sprit,
What is it you’re feeling - now?
