I remember an old friend, a mentor of mine, telling us often, “I am alive, therefore I am spiritual”. He was a highly educated man, and I think he meant it as a complement to the Descartes  assertion, “I think, therefore I am.” But what did he intend by saying it?

    Perhaps he meant that all living things possess a spiritual nature just by being. That the difference between the agglomeration of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that make up a physical body and the life, the movement, the activity of that body is spirit. 

     I agree with that. And I also think, and believe, that all living things are interconnected by this spiritual nature. That’s sort of a Native American way of thought, it seems, as Lakota, Ojibway and other indigenous American people use the term, “All my relatives” or “All my relations, when speaking of the animals around them, from the bears to the mosquitos. I have felt that connection when relating to the horses and dogs that have been a part of my life. 

    Furthermore, I believe that there is more to me than my body. That means that a description of me would correctly say, “I have a body.” Not “I am a body.” “I” am a being that has a spiritual nature and a physical nature. 

     Spiritual to me means that I also have a connection to a higher power. I call that higher power God, but not everyone would. Some might refer to it by another name, or call it the universe or what have you. But everyone has this connection. Some cultivate it, deepen it, while others neglect it or deny it. But it is there. 

     I cultivate this connection and deepen it, by meditation and prayer, and by practicing the presence of God as I go about my daily life. When I cultivate this spiritual connection, it provides me with a set of values and beliefs, a toolbox, to help me on my walk through life. Life becomes a spiritual journey. 

    In a sense, my spiritual connection makes me better, makes my life better. In fact, spirit is what makes me fully alive. So to turn my old friend’s saying around, the truth is I am spiritual, therefore I am alive.