Get In-Touch With Your Spiritual DNA

Parker Palmer, in his book A Hidden Wholeness, says “We are born with a seed of selfhood that contains the spiritual DNA of our uniqueness—an encoded birthright knowledge of who we are, why we are here and how we are related to others.” That spiritual DNA at the core of our being is, I believe, encoded into our souls. It is our true self, a spark of the Divine and our inner-teacher.

According to Palmer, a Quaker, the workings of the soul are multi-faceted. He says:
  • The soul keeps us grounded in our own being.
  • The soul keeps us connected to the community where we find life. Relationships are necessary for each of us to blossom into the fullness of our being.
  • The soul tells us the truth about ourselves and the world around us.
  • The soul gives us life and prompts us to share that gift.

      Taking time to connect with our souls is a daily necessity if we are to better understand our uniqueness, our seed of selfhood. A daily soul journey helps us to better know ourselves from within, and to understand ourselves from the deepest and most honest inner-workings of our hearts and souls. Discovering our spiritual DNA allows us to live by its promptings, which are closely aligned with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We can then learn to throw-off the false parts of ourselves that are really residue from the influence of others. 

In this way we can better connect with the people in this life whose spiritual DNA is most closely aligned to our own. After all, self-discovery leads to an honest self-love, and self-love leads to an honest love of others—especially those who’s spiritual DNA matches up nicely with our own. Self-love, like self-discovery, is brought to perfection when we remain in God and allow God to remain in us and guide us.

If we are fearful of self-discovery and self-disclosure then we need to surrender our fears to God; for God’s perfect love drives out fear. As 1 John, Chapter 4 says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.”

Allow God to drive-out all fear. Allow yourself to become authentically grounded in your spiritual DNA. As the Indian mystic Osho says in his book Intimacy, “once you know how to be true, it is so beautiful that you will never settle for being false” again. You will better love yourself and your loved ones, your love will be closer to perfection, and your soul will surely shine!

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