Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
What is most sacred to you? A powerful spiritual question

What is most sacred to you? A powerful spiritual question

Last updated on: February 11, 2016 at 11:20 am by Sarah Lawrence Hinson

What is most sacred to you? A powerful spiritual question 2016-02-11T11:20:51-05:00 Sarah Lawrence Hinson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What is most sacred to you?

I had never been asked this question before. I was in a personal development group training session and I knew it was a pivotal moment for me. No one had ever asked me, as a child raised in a non-denominational household and sent to a Christian school ‘so I could make my own choices’ – what is most sacred to me?

I was stuck and unable to answer. My mentor switched to somatic metaphor. We were learning more about how we moved through the world as individuals and also being taught to remember who we really were before we learned not to be that.

So the question became – think of something in nature that moves in a way which makes you believe it is sacred. What is that?

Immediately I was able to search inside and come up with something that always gives me the most beautiful sense of the sacred. Flocks of birds in flight, moving as one but existing as individuals at the same time. They move as a group but communicate and co-ordinate as individuals, in seeming perfect harmony – with a given leader yet every single bird in the flock is so attuned to the present moment that they swing, glide and swoop in a seemingly simultaneous and therefore completely elegant decision making process.

It’s beautiful. Watching birds in flight like that makes my soul sing, my face smile and my body want to run and jump into the sky after them to share in their sacred moments of beingness, togetherness, belonging and complete co-operation, complete surrender.

The movement is hypnotic and the sense of connectedness complete. It is indeed sacred.

What is most sacred to you? This is such a powerful spiritual question.

This question also saved me at one of the toughest moments in my life. My mother was sick and being taken care of in a hospice. It was clear that she and I needed to discuss funeral arrangements and go into depth about exactly what she would like.

She was quite unwell, moving in and out of consciousness sometimes. One day I visited her and she seemed pretty lucid, although she was having trouble speaking clearly.

So this powerful spiritual question made its way into my conscious awareness. My mother seemed incapable of answering when I asked her if she had any desires or wishes for particular funeral arrangements. The general questions I asked didn’t interest her at all or move her out of what seemed to be a light sleep state.

So I took a breath and asked her –

“Mum, what is most sacred to you?”

She immediately answered.

“Trees. Trees are sacred.”

Even in the place where her soul was moving in and out of her body, this question connected with her mind and spirit.

Now I knew what she meant. “So you would like a burial at the Sustainability Center in East Meon?” This was a non-traditional burial site on the South Downs in England, UK, where people can choose to be buried with any type of ceremony they desire. Once interred, after a while trees are planted over and around the graves to add much needed forest cover for that area of the beautiful South Downs.

When my mother was completely well, she would often tell us that she was a Pagan and she worshiped nature and the Sun. East Meon in the Hampshire South Downs was one of the sites she had talked about being buried in the past almost in a joking, self-deprecating way so I hadn’t been entirely sure she was serious.

I had to press my point. “Are you sure Mum?”

She smiled, sighed and bowed her head.

“Yes, I want to be a tree.”

Question collecting as a spiritual and personal growth practice

During the past few years I have become a question collector, partly because I have learned that the way we structure and ask a question of ourselves and others will definitely change the focus and bias of the response, partly because of my spiritual opening to the Akashic Records in recent years.

I know for a fact that within any spiritual practice, there is a tendency for self-inquiry.

Within the Akashic Records work specifically, I have discovered that clients often feel a keen sense of what they want to ask yet will struggle with the language formation of important questions during readings. To help them get the most out of such valuable spiritual inquiry I offer clients a list of power questions and often assist in reformulating their questions so that their Masters, Teachers and Loved Ones can give them the clearest and most comprehensive answers possible.

With this power question, however, it’s not necessary to have an Akashic Records reading. Many of you in any kind of spiritual or religious practice will, I am quite sure, enjoy the internal inquiry and resultant answers of this question, whether it be during meditation, journaling practice or prayer.

So I ask you, with curiosity and love, to consider this question. What is most sacred to you?

Picture from Pixabay.com

Previous Post

February 10, 2016

Is "Shame on You" the Graffiti Chiseled in the Backyard of Your Soul?

Next Post

February 12, 2016 The Sacred Trinity at the Heart of the Self

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2022 December 2021 October 2021 September 2018 October 2017 August 2017 April 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 April 2013 September 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Paul, nothing in all creation can separate you from me—not death, not life, not angels or demons. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Salvation God's grace God's mercy The love of God