Preservation of Spirit
In his book True Unity, Tom Dorrance stated, “Of the three things one is the most important: Preservation of Mind, Preservation of Body, and the third, often overlooked but actually the most important of all – Preservation of Spirit.
We can presume that, in his usual fashion, Tom Dorrance who has been known as the father of natural horsemanship, spoke about both horses and humans alike.
If you’ve ever experienced acute frustration in a situation where you felt controlled, where autonomy had been removed, where your mental physical and emotional choices no longer seemed to exist, you’ve touched the surface of the Preservation of Spirit concept.
Beyond body, beyond mind, there is an inner voice that rises up during injustice or chronic levels of stress and control by others, when a situation seems out of your influence. When your very purpose, reason for existing, your freedom to choose for your mind body and life is at stake the sense of Preservation of Sprit rears up and comes alive. In horses, just as in us.
This is the most fragile need, and yet the strongest. A broken spirit is life changing for a horse and yet lying innate, always ready to resurface its never really broken. There still exists this relentless, beautiful need for Preservation of Spirit.
As if one’s very purpose depends on honoring it.
A fine balance exists between surrendering to “what is”, and honoring the need for self-preservation. An even finer line exists when honoring preservation of Spirit.
Spirit is where your own private connection to God exists. It is where all good comes from, and it is where your purpose and reason for being can be found.
We so seldom honor this as our purpose is very rarely questioned. Instead, we choose to live day to day reacting and creating in the short term, often loosing sight of spirit, purpose, of a higher direction or vision.
But Preservation of Spirit is out own, private, direct connection to God’s will for us, and we must honor it and develop the capacity for Preservation of Spirit, in order to hear this properly, outside of the chaos online and in our everyday lives.
Humans have long felt a connection to the divine when riding horses – from native Americans to those historic figures tightly and impressively bonded with their horses in a way few understood. I believe this is due to the spiritual connection between a horse and rider. When the Preservation of Spirit is sought out and honored in the horse, the rider too begins to feel this connection within himself.
Perhaps this is in part due to the very real syncing of a horse’s heart with its rider’s, as Heartmath studies have proven There is a natural sync of a horse’s giant heart with the human heart of a conscious rider, which I believe is the start of the noticing the Preservation of Spirit and honoring it. That connection, always present with the horse and herd, begins to also work its way into a conscious, deliberate rider, allowing that rider to also connect in a different way to the world inside and around him.
The poet Rumi tells a story about finding the secret to life, where “the Gods” held a meeting to determine where to hide this secret, this divine connection. They thought to hide it on the highest mountain but decided humans would find it too easily, after all humans were determined and goal oriented. They then thought to hide it at the bottom of the sea where it would be impossible to find easily! But they also determined that because humans were thinkers and very resourceful it would also be too easily discovered there as well. Finally, it was determined to hide this beautiful sacred divine connection in the one place humans would most hesitate to look: deep within the depths of the human heart.
Maybe horses help us discover it. And maybe this is the beginning of what is known as Preservation of Spirit for humans.
I believe we all have a purpose and a reason for being. We know “in our hearts” what choices lead us to this deeper purpose, if we search within ourselves to find it. The need for autonomy in our lives and choices is Preservation of Spirit in action, for humans. When this is taken away we suddenly notice the loss, even if we weren’t connected to it before. Again, horsemanship done well can help us solve his.
This purpose, when honored, can steer a ship through the nastiest of storms. And I believe it is this connection that rears up and makes itself known when faced with control or loss of autonomy in the deepest parts of our lives. So that we might regain it back. Fight for it if we have to, if it isn’t being honored in our environment.
I believe this is what Tom Dorrance means when referring to preservation of Spirit, in horses and in humans.
It is to be cherished, for both.
We have yet to discover how very important this is to the rest of our world, as it is so rarely studied. But my intuition and sociological background tells me that one’s Preservation of Spirit is but one small piece of a much bigger puzzle. Honoring it is the one thing we have come here to do, and if everyone did, the bigger picture falls into place. But we must learn to discover it, to hear it and to work with it for this to happen. Especially within our fast paced technology-driven culture.
I’ll summarize the importance of honoring the Preservation of Spirit, in both horses and humans, with another Rumi story, paraphrased:
It is as if a king has sent you with a specific mission into a foreign land. You may accomplish a hundred things and be revered, but if you fail to find and accomplish the one thing you were sent to do, in the end it will be as if you accomplished nothing at all.
We are the only ones privy to that “one thing”, that direction, that calling. And Preservation of Spirit honors the connection that will lead us there.
Working with horse – consciously and intentionally to honor its own Spirit - can honor our own connection to the divine that inspires us to walk the path, and also helps illuminate and make clear the path.
It is a personal journey. We also learn that we are the only ones who can hear it for ourselves and that we too have the innate desire to honor and protect that Spirit within us once we find it. Horses honor this within themselves, rearing up when it is violated.
And so should we. Our very purposes are at stake.