Reverence

Webster defines reverence as honor or respect felt or shown, to revere. Webster then goes on to describe revere as to show devoted deferential honor to : regard as worthy of great honor.

Looking at this from a spiritual aspect, I feel that we can take this much further than Webster.

The first step is to recognize that whatever we see is only the shell or outer aspect of the thing, and that we must look for the essence of it. I can look at a person and see a physical form. It may be fat or skinny, short or tall, muscular or weak, ugly or beautiful, vibrantly healthy or sickly. But that is only the shell and not the real thing, or at least only a part of the real thing. Were I to look only at that shell, and think of that shell as being all that there was to it, there would be no real reason for reverence. By looking beyond the shell or outer aspect and looking for the essence of the thing, we can see that there is much more than is immediately apparent.

In the above example, I used people to look at, but if we reserve reverence for people alone we are being very short sighted indeed. Actually, reverence is honoring all life, whether it be human, animal or plant. And even there we should not stop. Find a woodland pond. Sit beside it and allow yourself to really feel that place. You will discover that it has an ambience, and an energy. That too should be revered. The same could be said for a mountain side, a beach or even a busy city. And while it is true that these places may not be alive, still there is an energy, the energy of their creation that abides there. And that energy deserves reverence.

The entire universe and everything in it should be approached with reverence. Remember, you are a part of the universe. Reverence is a way of interacting with the universe. Let me give you an example. You can pick up a stone, casually inspect it and toss it aside, a common act. But pick up that same stone with a sense of reverence and it becomes something else entirely. For instance, I picked up a crystal from my desk and just held it. I could feel the energy of that stone. I set it down and picked up a different one in the same manner. The feel of the energy innate to that stone was different from the first even though they had a very similar appearance. Had I simply accepted these stones according to their attractive appearance, I would never had known of that other, larger aspect of them. So you need to look beyond the outer shell, seek the inner, larger aspect of whatever is around you.

Reverence and respect are two different things, although they are related. You can feel reverence for a complete fool, but not respect them. I find it hard to respect a mosquito that would suck my blood. And even though I may understand why she is doing it, I did not give her my permission. So she is being a thief, and I do not respect a thief.

In a sense, reverence is being one with the universe, being one with all things. In one way, reverence must include our psychic senses in order to be complete. You may look at another person and see their physical form, but with your psychic senses you can also see their energy. You can touch their hand or their face and feel the texture of their skin. Is it hard or soft, smooth or rough, cool or does it feel feverous? But with the psychic sense, you can also feel their energy. Just standing near another person you can feel much about them. What is their mood? Are they feeling any pain? Are they energetic or despondent? This is actually an empathic sense. And all of these senses will help you to connect to the inner being of the other person.

How will living a life with a sense of reverence change the way that you react or relate to others? First of all, lets take the example of a man who is not reverent. Assume that he becomes very angry at another man, he may very well attempt to destroy that other man. But a man who lives a reverent life can become just as angry and would not dream of attempting to destroy the other. Why? Because even though he may very well be angry, he still honors the other and their right to be. I have heard this expressed as “Put yourself in the other’s place.” We may not like another person, and not respect them, still we must honor their right to be. Remember that in reality they too are a soul that is growing and learning. A life of reverence is compassionate, a life without reverence is brutal. Regardless of your religion a good example of the former would be Jesus and a good example of the latter would be Adolf Hitler.

Joyce Chandler