Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash
Trust Your Gut...
If you're bent like me - in the direction of the spiritual, with an openness to more - all findings point in the direction of God. Some people are turned off by the mention of 'God', due to clumsy use of vocabulary by semi-competent humans. God is bigger than a book, bigger than 4-walls of a church, and shows up in contexts we never dream. A small view of God should not be the result of a low literacy level on the part of a semi-competent pastor.
The word gut has two basic uses, one for emotions and emotional response, one for actual physical function. Both uses mean essentially this: inner response or function. Physically, your gut is responsible for digestion, which is the source of energy; emotionally, your gut is responsible for morality. It all stems from the gut.
There is a lot of study going on about gut health. It's a place in the body previously untouched by science, that is now gaining a lot of traction. Probiotics are all around, and studies are coming out on gut health.
This is interesting to me on a lot of levels, but one of the major ones is that listening to the gut, or trusting your gut, is a lot like instinct or spirit.
I think that inside each of us there is a voice that's telling us how to act and be. We can listen to it, and then it will be louder and stronger; or, we can ignore it and it becomes more silent. I know that was the case for me.
I'm starting to believe that the right steps for us to take are around and available at all times, softly asking to be followed. All we need to do is listen.
Many people ignore the voice for the promise of better benefits, retirement plans, or peace of mind. The tradeoff is your dreams, your destiny, or your desires.
(This is heading in the direction of the mystic, but is there a better way to head? Is there a better direction than trusting the voice inside, the gut, the connection to all things, the source of life, the energy in the universe?)
My hunch - my gut ,if you will - tells me that we're going to see evidence linking passion and religion with the gut.
Trust it. Listen. Be open. See where it leads.