Throughout life, I’ve been told a few times that I don’t fully own and walk in my power.

I’ll be the first to raise my hand and admit they are right. I know it’s there. I see it come to life through me from time to time, but I don’t always own it. I’ve been guilty of knowingly and unknowingly dimming myself. I’ve done it to fit in, I've done it to be liked, and I've done it to be loved. I’ve also dimmed my power because I’m uncomfortable with it. At times I find myself afraid of the power I possess.

We all go through those moments when we feel like giving up.

Although it takes place outside the headlines, even those that deal with science, a heated debate is occurring about mind and matter. On one side is a camp of so-called physicalists, formerly known as materialists, who hold fast to the assumption that any and all phenomena in nature can be reduced to physical processes, namely the forces and the interaction between objects (atoms, subatomic or elementary particles, etc.) -- these are the building blocks of the universe. On the other side is no single camp but a mixed assortment of skeptics who hold that at least one natural phenomenon--the human mind--cannot be explained physically through such methods.

When you think about your past, what  makes the old you that lived your old story and your memory of the experiences come alive? Do certain smells trigger a memory? What about music? A song can remind you of a moment in time where you were changed forever. But were you frozen in time? Do you still tell the old story the same way?

Science is the modern authority for telling us what’s real, using verifiable facts to prove its theories. Over the last century many facts have emerged about the nature of the universe, and since we know we live in an evolving universe since the big bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago, naturally scientific knowledge has evolved. But strangely enough, this hasn’t brought reality any closer. The mysteries of the universe were expected to be solved by looking closer and closer at phenomena “out there” beyond Earth, “at smallest scales" as we probe within the matter, and then reality pulled a number of baffling tricks that brought everything into question.

 

I noticed it first in the elephants. From the safari jeep, we saw them in the near distance, walking through the South African bush. Their movement was steady, serene, focused—moving forward with purpose and utmost clarity, undeterred by distraction. They embodied grace in a way I had never seen before, a grace that filled them and emanated forth from them. They were living their unique beingness on Earth, fully and completely, and with a simple beauty that made my breath catch in my throat and tears fill my eyes when I looked at them. It was God’s grace and presence I was witnessing—it filled them so sweetly and divinely. That is the way we were all meant to walk upon this Earth.