A Sailing Ship Analogy

“Spirit” is an energy that moves throughout the universe.  It is an energetic animating and moving force much as the wind on the Earth is an energetic and moving force.  

Referenced by many as the Divine, this “Shining” from the heavens (what the word divine references) is everywhere all at once, all the time, kind of like the atmosphere around our planet.

Each of us reading this is a “co-creator” with the divine and may utilize these energetic, animating, moving forces.  Like a sailing ship, we may use these forces to “sail” us through the life that we have chosen.

On a sailing ship, the ship’s Captain is in command of the vessel and makes overall strategic decisions, while the pilot/navigator’s job is to plan and execute the ship’s route and ensure safe passage.  The captain is responsible for the ship’s safety and well-being, while the navigator focuses on the ship’s position and course.  

Divinity is like the ship’s Captain offering us options to allow for strategic decision making.  Our “higher self” is like the ship’s navigator, responsible for charting our course.  Our “spiritual selves” are in the rigging above our physical selves serving to trim the sails to allow the desired course to be attained.  Our physical selves are on deck, or below decks, tending to maintaining our vessel in a sea-worthy state for accomplishing our charted course.  Let’s look a bit more closely at these concepts.

Our “higher selves”, “uppa self”, conscience, etc. is our pilot/navigator that is closely in touch with the energy that created the universe (God) and is experienced in “reading” these “winds” to make a determination as to where they are most likely to carry us.  Our higher-self-pilot directs us to “trim the sails” to better help us to achieve the most advantageous destination based on our environment.  It is up to our “selves”, both our spirit-selves and our physical-selves, to work together to “trim the sails” to most advantageously “ride the wind” to our desired destinations.  

Our “spiritual selves” are more in tune with the energies of the universe and may more easily tend to the “sails way up in the rigging of the ship” while our “physical selves” are more comfortable tending to the deck and below deck work.  

Our physical self has its own desires and our brains often react to those desires.  This frequently leads our physical selves to come into conflict with our spiritual selves who are trying to “trim the sails” according to the instruction of our higher self, the pilot/navigator.

When we learn to heed the direction of our spiritual selves, or better yet learn to hear the directions of our higher self/pilot directly, we often find smoother sailing.

Here are some worthy pursuits for your life:

• Recognize the desires of your physical self and be aware of them.

• Search for the input from your spiritual self that is more aware of the “spiritual wind” than your physical self.  Heed its instruction.

• Become aware of your pilot/navigator, your “higher self” that is most in tune with the divine.  This “higher self” is in tune with the divine and, as a co-creator, this self’s input actually can help to shape the direction of the energies to achieve the desired destination. Stated another way, the desires of the higher self are used by the divine to craft the sailing environment in which you sail. (Focus on bad weather and you will ultimately receive bad weather).

• Determine which way the “wind” is blowing, Ask your “pilot/navigator” for the course you need to sail.  Allow your spiritual self to adjust the sails to help to get you to the desired destination.  Encourage your physical self to be a team player and support your spiritual self, and your higher self to sail you into your desired destination.

• Realize that trying to sail a Clipper Ship with just your physical self is like sitting in a rubber raft in the middle of the Pacific while the wind, the waves, the storms, and the carnivorous fish seem to make physical life miserable.

Learn to “sail your ship” by working together with your “spiritual team” and your “spiritual team mates.”