By Keith Mounts, author of Spirit Beckons.
My photo represents the reflection of our Soul in tranquil water. The Soul is our True Self, the rock. The reflection is how we choose to be in our lives. When it’s smooth sailing on tranquil water it’s easier to choose being our True Selves. But when we are experiencing turmoil, the waters are raging. There is no reflection to be seen and the True Self only briefly revealed. Regaining the clear reflection of our Soul requires a conscious effort to calm the waters within.
As a photographer I go into a zone of intense observing when I’m out with my camera. It’s a spiritual experience when light and object combine as my awareness shifts and I know for a moment I am body and Soul. These are calm water times and a camera isn’t needed to get there. The decision to observe is the main event. Just look around where you are right now. Absolutely anything you see is part of creation and connected to God. For example, I’m looking out my second-floor window and I see a bird bath in the garden. The refection is still for a moment, then stirred by the wind, it ripples. It becomes another world, no longer a part of the trees and sky. The water says to me, “I am a window for you to a place where the ordinary is transformed into wonder. I am also water, responding to wind, then returning to rest as it calms.”
A recent experience of the maelstrom was the pain of kidney stones. Beyond asking God for relief, my thoughts of Spirit were drowned out when the pain came and stayed, despite strong medication. I desperately wanted the tranquil water. Over the pain a teaching I’ve heard more than once came to me. Love everything, even the unpleasant. I told the pain I love it, over and over. Shortly the pain began to subside and was gone. My True Self slid through the opening created by love. My Soul brought with it the peace of Spirit and gifted my body with grace and ease.
The True Self is us in all the times of our lives. The Soul is eternal. It’s the mortal life that obscures and lets us forget. But we always have the choice to reflect our True Selves.
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The photograph and accompanying message are excerpted from Keith’s book “Spirit Beckons”, available on Amazon by Clicking Here. For more information, you can visit the Spirit Beckons web site at www.spiritbeckons.com.