RECLAMING YOUR TRUE SELF By Angela Dunning
Restoring The Sacred
Restoring the sacred is vital for our individual health and the health of the planet.
The loss of the sacred: What is so overwhelmingly missing in our modern day Western society is a sense of the sacred. Since The Enlightenment and the advance of science into all areas of modern life, religion, spirituality and a sense of the sacred as an essential part of daily life have been grossly eroded in the West. So much so that even to admit to having any kind of faith in our culture verges on something to be ashamed of; to be kept quiet and hidden from our mainstream society, including sometimes from our friends, family and colleagues. All of which is having a profound effect on us as individuals and as a society, in terms of our well-being, fulfilment, our ability to see deeply into life and our place in the world as a part of a greater whole. The result being that most of us live in very dry, rational and logical ways, day in day out. Moving from one thought to the next; from one action to the next and bypassing our emotions as well 56 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e July 2019
as a sense of the sacred and the Divine. What is often lacking is a sense of meaning, depth, the symbolic and respect for the sacredness of life. The symbols we digest daily are as important as the food we eat, maybe more so. Therefore, the soul and psyche needs the daily nourishment of the sacred to feel in balance and well-fed. When we revere a chocolate muffin; glass of wine or latest iPhone more than the sacred then surely, as a culture, we are in big trouble? We have lost our way and our ability to connect to that which is greater than us; the mystery of life itself. Throughout human history we have needed a deep sense of the sacred. It acts as an anchor, keeping us connected to our living world, and to a sense of something greater than us which guides our lives and provides meaning, in an otherwise abyss of seemingly chaotic forces and events.