I haven’t found the handbook yet, so I’m writing my own. You will have to uniquely write your own. The way I see it, we are spirit beings going through a human experience, together. Just imagine: spirits zip around the multi-universe, then plunked into these bodies and forget EVERYTHING. Many spiritual teachers agree that we are here for a set of experiences that help us grow, to serve a purpose and remember who we are.

My definition of a good life: To follow one’s own individual Yellow Brick Road of Desires. Or, similarly stated by Joseph Campbell, “Follow Your Bliss.” I’m following each lit-up brick on my individual road, unraveling deeper meaning and joy while on this earth. I’m currently pulling threads to answer these two questions:

  1. How can I feel fully alive? Meaning, how can I make every cell in my body sizzle with life force, and express a buzzing aliveness while on this Earth?
  2. What is my role in our collective humanity? Meaning, how can I best interact with others, and contribute with purpose to my human community?

I’ll dive into the first question in this Part One. Why am I bothering with this mental exercise? I look around me and can honestly say I have a beautiful life. But there is an itching for something more. I’m overweight, experience off and on back pain, and struggle with navigating modern-day demands. I can get angry about pointless life activities and experience ego flares. Can I learn to let more of this go, and feel greater buzzing aliveness?

I’m currently studying shamanism. On the surface, it may be known for facilitation of psychedelic journeys. However, the first thing I’m learning is Shamans have learned to harness the strong connection with the Earth, recognizing the power and energy that she gives. Even science agrees. Tesla Nikola acknowledged over 100 years ago that we have enough power within Earth to create a second sun, if we could learn how to harness it. Perhaps Shamans have been harnessing it all along. Could I learn?

On the science side of things, light is our primary fuel source. Our foods, which we recognize as fat, proteins and carbohydrates – all originate from light. What if we lived with the view that everything is alive, and what we put into our bodies is pure light energy fueling our cells? What if the air we breathe was alive? What if we truly sun-bathed every day – spent purposeful time in the sun, then feel it powering up our bodies like batteries?

“Inside the Earth, there are energies of joy, peace, and love that are expressed for example through a flower that grows from the earth, food that comes out of it and everything that makes it the home of man.”

Nikola Tesla, from an interview themed “Everything is Light”

Homo Sapiens have survived on earth for about 200,000 years. Over the past 100 years, we’ve completely lost touch with how to survive. Let me repeat that a different way: for 0.9995% of our species existence, we have lived off of the land. For the last 0.0005% of our existence, largely speaking, the majority of us have no idea how to live off of the land. I sure don’t, but my parents did. When growing up, my parents had a large vegetable garden, where we employed a full “harvest” routine in late-summer and early fall to store for the winter by canning and freezing our fruits and vegetables. While my family didn’t hunt, many of our neighbors did, and stockpiled their freezers with geese, pheasant and walleye fish. We raised cattle and would butcher a cow annually to provide meat for our family.

Today our species is dependent on our systems; thank God for our systems. A finely-tuned global agricultural farming system, with harvests sent to food corporations with scientists who create predictable offerings of our favorite boxed foods in grocery aisles two through ten. What if the systems fail, producing shortages and peak demands like we experienced during 2020? And, did our ancestors eat what we are eating today? Can our bodies recognize the foods that we are feeding it?

Our food system leads me to think about our health system. The U.S. health system is geared more to take care of the sick versus teaching us how to stay healthy. For example, over the past year, how many news articles or government-sponsored press releases taught us how to build our immunity? Who has that responsibility to teach us how to be healthy? You do and I do.

The answer to question one in my handbook, “How can I truly feel alive?” is for me to live with a greater connection to Earth. I believe we can vibrate at a higher frequency of aliveness when connecting with the gifts of Earth. Furthermore, I recognize that our bodies have an adaptive immune system, and many of our illnesses can be prevented by consuming cleaner food with greater life force.

I’m experimenting a lot around question one, in the following ways:

  • Every morning, I put my feet on the earth, and ground. I reach up, and connect myself like an outlet between Heaven and Earth.
  • In meditation, I pretend that the air is alive with prana on each inhale. Every exhale is the exhaust pipe of toxins and things that no longer serve me. Try this.
  • In my daily walks, I notice the birds with their song, the smells of the flowering trees and how my body feels doing its most natural form of movement.
  • In my yard, I’m incorporating more native plants and removing invasive species, to feed the insects who feed the birds who feed my soul with their song. It’s an ecosystem that I will care for.
  • In my garden, I’m planting fruits and vegetables with my children. Together, we are re-learning how to survive and thrive on this planet, by growing her food sources right here on our land.

So far, my experiments of feeling fully alive are working. Through plugging into the endless energy of the earth and powering up with the light, my days feel brighter. In the meantime, how are you experiencing a buzzing aliveness in your cells? Teach me, for my handbook and yours.

Coming Soon: Re-Learning To Be Human, Part Two