Shen

We live in a society that breeds you vs. me, competition, exclusivity, and hierarchy- which in turn breeds more of the same behaviour and toxic minds, bodies, and souls. Freedom lies in breaking away from this conditioning and aligning ourself with our true human nature. The book I'm reading resonates so hard with me at the moment so sharing an excerpt that hopefully makes your heart sing as much as it does mine.

Shen is our spirit, our "higher consciousness". It reflects our higher nature as human beings. Chinese masters say that Shen is the all-embracing love that resides in our "Heart", a primary organ system. Shen is expressed as love, compassion, kindness, generosity, acceptance, forgiveness, and tolerance. It manifests as our wisdom and our ability to see all sides of all issues, our ability to rise above the world of right and wrong, good and bad, yours and mine, high and low, and so on. Shen is our higher knowledge that everything is one, even though nature manifests dualistically and cyclically, often obstructing our vision and creating illusion.

Shen is the spark of divinity within each human being. It is the spiritual radiance of a human being and is the ultimate most refined level of energetics in the universe. It is associated with our awareness of and oneness with the Universal Infinite Being and is manifested in our own godliness.

Zhuang Zi, one of China's greatest Daoist sages, once wrote:

"When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten. 

When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. 

And when the Heart [shen] is right, 'For' and 'against' are forgotten".

(From The Ancient Wisdom of the Chinese Tonic Herbs by Ron Teeguarden)