The call inevitably comes to each of us. For some, it comes like a whisper, in a voice undistinguished from our own. Somehow we know it's a call from the Spirit, the universal voice within us all. We have each had our calls, individually, and as groups of individuals. We felt it through our national pain, and as a collective throughout the world in recognition of the pain and suffering worldwide.

It's a symmetrical irony that our pain and suffering bind us together to help each other heal. But we know without darkness there could be no light. We are a collective emerging from the darkness into the spiritual Light of the world. We have no choice but to see the Light and hear the whisper, because it is our time for awareness. Just as the energy of the universe changes and shifts, and time expands into longer days, so does our soulful energy rise. It is an inevitable reality of our spiritual evolution; that's why we hear the whisper. Each of us knows that there is an energy calling to us. We may theorize about it, we may have unique philosophies or books to explain about it, but we all know it's calling us. We need all those theories and philosophies; we need to bring East and West, traditional ideas and anything else that we can gather together to help us answer the call. No one needs to be right and no one needs to be wrong, we just need to find our way back home to who and what we really are.

There are so many wonderful messages that have been delivered in the most unusual ways to our world just for that purpose. How many of them are right or wrong? It matters not if their purpose is to help us hear the whisper and heed the call of our higher awareness. Instead, they have created diversity among us since the beginning of time. We have moved off the mark to join in practice with sects and cults and groups and fellowships and ideologies that we think are winners. Rather than uniting us, it has torn us apart. It has torn us apart as families, as friends, as nations and as a human collective. When all the while, in spirituality, all you need to do is open your heart. It doesn't matter when, where, how, or with whom you do that. It just matters that you do. The diversity of humanity has nothing to do with spirituality unless we embrace each other for it.

It seems there are more churches and books and places one can go to learn about enlightenment than there ever have been before. In fact, there is so much that we can get mired up in all that knowledge. The ultimate reality is that whatever knowledge we gain is without merit to the un-awakened heart. One hears the whisper with the heart, not the head. Our desires come from heaven; the etymology of the word "desire" is "of the stars, or heavens", yet in some nonsensical way we try to answer that call with our heads. We need knowledge about how to open our minds to new ways and means of opening our hearts. The knowledge does not make us spiritual, it makes us only aware of knowledge that teaches us different ways to open and understand spirit. Whether we do or not has nothing to do with our intellect, it is a spiritual matter. The more we open our hearts to the stillness within, the more we learn of our selves and our spirituality from an energy unavailable to us in our awakened, worldly consciousness. So we learn from our heart about God, what our heads cannot comprehend.

There has been diversity among us since the conception of man. We are predisposed to a sense of being right or being wrong, and I fear that is the main reason we have so many religions and spiritual philosophies today. That's a polite attempt at saying that our egos and sense of self attach to the need to prove others wrong so that we can feel right. But, does it matter who has the most members or largest congregations? It matters only to those who are concerned with such things. For those with a higher sense of spirit it has no relevance.

We have become very saturated with ideas, and philosophies and theologies about a matter that addresses each of us in it's own way. There are many ways and many places that we can go to worship or learn how to grow spiritually, why should we only pick one source? Why would only one be "right?" Can you fathom the Ultimate Source of creation as having only one source or means by which to convey Itself to us? Nonetheless, rather than bring us together, it has created more disturbance and confusion for many who don't already have a spiritual direction. Spirituality abounds in so many venues that it is nearly chaotic. We are grasping at straws, at theories and at all we can in order to feel some sense of belonging because we know we are being called home. We just don't know where it is or where we should be looking for it.

The power of the Spirit is in us and all around us; It speaks to us in all languages and in all forms of communication that are not restricted within the bounds of our limited intellect and resources. Now, at this time in the universe, our Creator speaks to us in a voice which must be distinguished enough to silence ours. It is evident that we have heard the call. Many are now turning to religion and to spirituality for comfort and for answers in a troubled world. But there are just as many who find it confusing because they don't know where to start, or what is right. Others find it intimidating because they know there is an invisible line one crosses in order to reach the other side of spirituality. So, we already have a few barriers that keep people popping in and out of spiritual doors.

Spiritual growth and personal growth go hand in hand, and they are remarkably intimidating. We do not experience one without the other. Our intended purpose, as common to so many philosophies and theologies is that we are here to learn how to live in a higher state. A state that is tantamount to perfect love, peace and contentment. In order to do so, one must learn to live in a higher awareness of who we are spiritually. To some degree that means we separate ourselves from the world. That is a frightening and intimidating prospect because no matter how spiritual we think we are; we still live here in the world, this is where our attachments are. To separate means to lose that part of our selves and that is indeed frightening.

The more one progresses and becomes advanced in the spiritual sense, the less attachment, or desire one has to be attached to the world. In personal growth, progress means the bar of human behavior is raised toward that of spiritual integrity. We can't get away with some of the things we used to get away with, we become more accountable for our actions and those actions become more spiritual in nature. By spiritual I mean closer to our true essence, where love and compassion, truth and justice are our realities rather than our ideals. When we consider the price that would entail, many aren't so eager to jump on the spiritual or personal growth bandwagons. However, each of us is able to move forward only moment by moment in the exact and precise method and extent, to which we are able to see, hear, feel, and understand in perfect accord with our desire and ability.

Going back to my point about academia and secular knowledge, not all the books in the world can make a person more spiritual than the desire that burns within. That desire lends an ear to the spiritual voice, and that is how we hear the call. It is innate, it is inherent, and it has echoed throughout the ages to us all. Yet we continue to seek ways to hear it with our heads instead of in the stillness of our hearts. In our busy, hurried intellectual ways we pass by the miracles and hush the voice that holds the answer to all we look for in life. I know, I looked for all the answers in the world and they aren't here. They are in the silence, in the fervent desire to know and be all that we truly are. The answers are not revealed to the intellectual capacity of a reader, they are found in what the heart absorbs, and more importantly how it is reflected in the way we live our lives.

I deeply sense the pain of our humanity in a way that connects me to that pain, and to those in pain. It feels odd to be so overwhelmed by this sense of pain, and yet it feels as if it could be no other way. It seems as if we must share in our grief as well as in the joys of life. We are connected in ways many do not understand, and at many different levels. We cry for each other without drinking in the others pain, and so we know only a little of compassion in the true sense of the word. I am not saying that I have reached an enlightened sense of compassion. What I am saying is that we all feel each other to some degree, just as we feel the energy of the earth and the creator. However you want to define that, it spells the same thing, we are all one with each other and one with the Ultimate Source of God.

This is a time in our evolution when we need to be brazenly reminded about our unity. We have lingered in diversity for far to long now. It is time for us to recall who we are, and why we are here. There may be many ways to say it and just as many to argue against it, but I believe we are here to learn how to unite again. We are here to unite with our true spirit self, with our brothers and sisters, and with the essence of our creator, God, so that our unity may propel us towards a higher way of living.

This is a time to look at all philosophies, to embrace all religions, to honor all theories and paths that lead to God, and to peace, no matter how different they may be from our finite views. No one needs to be right any more than anyone needs to be wrong. Just as each of us has unique worldly talents, so we also have spiritual gifts to offer each other. We all have a duty to extend the hand of helpfulness to our fellow seekers, to share our gifts and our light among those in the dark, and to give love to those who need it the most. We are all being called to this Higher Awareness so that we can remember who we really are. How we answer that call is a unique experience between our selves and God, and how we choose to share that with the universe.

Herlinda is co-founder of iManna, a solution-based living philosophy offering Personal & Spiritual Growth, Addiction Recovery, and Prayer & Meditation programs. These innovative programs are taught through taped lectures, reflective workbooks, and experiential meditations. She presents lectures, workshops and intuitive, spiritual consultations via www.imanna.cc  and throughout the greater Milwaukee area.  iManna Post Office Box 345 Brookfield, WI 53008-0345 (262) 821-8001