Angela Whitney is a spiritual guide, family nurse practitioner in community health, and mother of three. With her husband, Himayat, she co-directs Light of the Mountains Retreat Center in Asheville, North Carolina.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
-- Shakespeare's Hamlet

Spirit is omnipresent, omniscient, all-pervading. Humans are the height of living form, spirit discovering spirit-self. Considering the nature of the human being—a ray of the Unfathomable Sun, the source of All, the Alpha and the Omegahow do we maintain our purity, remain true to Life, maximize our potential? How do we maintain fidelity to our source? In our quest for right life, the human returns to Source daily to refreshen, remember, renew in Flow through nature and meditation, and by participating in awe, mystery, creativity, imagination, prayer, and communion. As we live from our spiritual center, essence manifests—our spiritual self incarnates more and more extensively, and we see "spirit-in-action".

The Spirit of Guidance is a palpable thread uniting human beings with Source, evidence of "spirit-in-action". It is the product of incessant resonance, communication, and exchange in the Spirit/Human entity. Its intimacy profound, the vapors of the cries of the human heart are Spirit-witnessed. The reflex return to the human from Source is the Spirit of Guidance—deep communication and communion in the Spirit/Human entity. In our daily life we can orient ourselves to the Spirit of Guidance as the core around which we spin our lives. Essence manifests.

The spiritual art of our spinning involves allowing the connection to Spirit, discovering and deciphering, allowing ourselves to be moved and lifted, allowing intimacy and resonance, as we clear ourselves of dust and things not resonant. Yes, big subjects! Our learning and practice are lifelong. Spirit-in-action, Spirit in human guise—the sweetest of fruits—comes from innocence, creativity, diligence, patience, commitment, discernment and grace.

Spirit-in-action has many faces. How do I know Thee? Let me count the ways…

Spirit-in-action is the searchlight that is a torch in our darkness, that helps us find our way, to discover the aspect of Source offered to us in this moment. It is our growing edge. It is Life in Flow—always twisting, turning, developing, reaching, expressing in the new those parts of ourselves that are renewing, transforming, hurting, exhilarating, uncertain, and challenging us. Our perpetual choice is how to orient ourselves to our growing edge—to stuff it down, make it destructive to Life, or to harmonize with it somehow, turning it into evolutionary flow, manifesting essence.

We have this choice in our millions of moments. It is imagination, a stimulation of the human mind/soul by the Source, that is the ÒleapÓ from what is already created to that which is birthing-in-this-moment. In a willingness to express oneÕs resonance with Life, with the Spirit of Guidance, creativity is born. Creativity is the child of the clear union of Spirit/Human, itself a manifestation of essence, the spiritual core and juice that exudes from the softness of the ripening human.

Some of the many additional faces of Spirit-in-action: intelligence, light, beauty, gratitude, forgiveness, insight, kindness, love, mercy, relationship, compassion, empathy, art, friendship, consciousness, altruism, humor, joy, communion, health, sharing, glory, tantric sex, consideration, meditation, communication, transformation, justice, tolerance, healing, blessing, music, prayer, nature, cooperation, awareness, breath, culture, morals, teaching, fellowship, social movements, pathos, understanding, inspiration, discovery, growth and development, ethics, harmony. All these beauties are Spirit-in-action, and more. What else would you add??

Revealing Spirit-in-action, our activities as humans constellate around Source not only in our clarifying process and being resonant with spirit, but also in being a "true heart", in slaying our dragons as did St. George, and in self-expression. The qualities of our true heart are love, compassion, and innocence; they allow us to be our supple, loving, accessible selves. We pursue what is beautiful to us, a guiding light in transformation, our gift to ourselves and others. May we give it often! Our finest gift is our true heart to give as we rise to the challenges on our journey through life.

St. George slaying the dragon is the exemplar of discernment, the warrior spirit, and the good boundaries needed for meeting life's challenges. Spirit-in-action. This myth is older than its most recent Christian source, and dragons symbolize diverse things, both pro-life and anti-life, "good-and-bad"! In our context, a dragon symbolizes those pieces of ourselves and the world that block our path toward Life, that obfuscate, detract, distract and fool. In orienting to the light of our soul, we discern the Flow of life in us, and allow parts to die back that are not for us, as St. George slew his dragon.

We outflow—just as Spirit desires to know Itself, the human knows itself in outflow. Outflow is self-expression. Spirit-in-action. Outflow is being, not just doing. We express ourselves in discovery, in seeing ourselves, in supporting others, creating larger life, in imagination and creativity. We constantly (continually) refine our expression as resonating with that voice that constantly comes from within. In this we find integrity and authenticity.

As we dare, as we trust, as we develop ourselves as true heart, "slaying" what is not a fit in diverse ways with grace, compassion, and wisdom, as we express ourselves in our myriad of venues, integrity and authenticity abound. Integrity is our wholeness in action (as realized wholeness). Authenticity is our capacity to come directly from our unmuddied waters. As we follow the voice and the call that arise from within, we swim in the Spirit-in-action water of integrity, being our authentic selves. The resonance of the whole informs the parts. Essence manifests.

Spirit-in-action is all over the place. Look to see. It is not linear. Allow the atmosphere birthing in you as you read these words to guide you to your places and to the fruits awaiting you, as you trust and dare. Follow the path suggested in the murmurings of your heart and soul in this and every moment. We find ourselves to be spirit-in-action; we discover the scent of lovers mingling. Essence manifests.

This article was originally published in Awakenings,
the newsletter of Universal Awakening.