Our Vital Spirit

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from, or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit."

John 3:8

My simple soul longs for a simpler time. Every time I sign up for a new service or software application I have to create a new password. I need a password to find my password list. My electronic devices have shorter and shorter lifespans. The update pop-up pops-up with increased frequency.

I watch "American Pickers" because it leads me to glimpses of those simpler times. I am drawn to life's antiquities for they are where the treasure of my simple memories lie in a warm soft place. The basic truths contained in these memories still connects deep down and touches the Spirit within.

Recently I was strolling through the toiletries aisle at my local grocery store. A product on the shelf caught my eye and gave me pause. At first I thought that this particular shelf had been overlooked in restocking efforts. This seemingly forgotten section of display real estate must have been caught in a time warp. There rested a single bottle of Vitalis men's hair tonic. This should have been a facing that included Dapper Dan and Butch Wax adjacent to this relic of men's grooming!


Why would this isolated relic from the past grab me to the point of taking a picture with my cell phone? Perhaps I did not believe my eyes. Why - if I had a picture to show- people would actually believe me when I told them what I had recently discovered in a Publix of all places. How is it that this simple chance encounter with an inanimate object would have me gathered up in the mystique of my memory?



The first thing I did when I decided to share the picture was to look for some kind of sign, a message in the name itself, Vitalis. Of course, when beginning this search on my antiquated laptop, I received the message that my browser needed updating...go figure. When googled, the word Vitalis brought up the word Vitalism. What I found was that "Vitalism" is an obsolete scientific doctrine. I was not aware that a scientific doctrine could become obsolete? Then again I am not an academic either. I will let the reader see for themselves:

Vitalism is an obsolete scientific doctrine that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things".^[1] a Where vitalism explicitly invokes a vital principle, that element is often referred to as the "vital spark", "energy" or "élan vital", which some equate with the soul.

When I further looked for clarification of that phrase: obsolete scientific doctrine, I found the descriptors: scientific consensus and mainstream scientific acceptance. Can anyone say global warming? Then it occurred to me that what we are talking about here is the same thing as conventional wisdom!  God forbid, that the belief in the concept of the soul travel the same road as the idea of vitalism!  All right, so I will remove the letter -m- and voila...we are back to our original word topic VITALIS... whew!  I think I will try to avoid wikipedia for awhile.

One thing I am sure of is the existence of the soul. I have a soul. It is my vital spirit within and when I connect best with fellow humans it is at the level of our souls. That spirit is what we all have in exact and absolute common.  What is different about us is how we are packaged; how our souls are manifest in this material world.

Last evening my friend Donna and I were enjoying a meal outside one of our favorite eateries here in Smyrna, Georgia. I saw her look up and behind me recognizing a familiar face. She immediately arose and went to this passerby calling him by name, "Michael"!  This was, I could sense, a connection on the level of the soul. Michael is a close friend with Donna's daughter. They were high school classmates many years earlier.  I could clearly see that "vital spark" of this young man as I got up to introduce myself and shake his hand.  I had never known of or heard his story. Here it is:

 



I had started writing this piece a couple days earlier and I got stuck. I was not sure where it was going. After hearing about this young man from my fiend Donna I knew it was not a coincidence that our paths crossed last night. There are no coincidences.  It is my conviction that one of the reasons Christ came into the world was to facilitate mankind's awakening to it's collective soul.  The Holy Spirit allows us to comprehend who we are.

 

 



I believe there is a time in our youth where we are more in touch with our spirit.  Then the world began telling me who I should be and I started listening. Conventional wisdom pointed me to how I should act and painted for me what my picture of success should look like. These relics of the past sometimes help connect me to those moments when I could more clearly hear that still small voice within.

 

" 'The Spirit of Truth' the world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you."

John 14:17

 



Thanks brother Michael.
Amen

Bradford Bosworth
September 2015