CONSIDER: S.P.E.C.I.E.S. — PART II. . .

This morning, gentle reader, I invite you to join me and consider several of the S.P.E.C.I.E.S. seven dimensions. As a reminder the seven dimensions are: Spiritual, Physical, Emotional, Cultural, Intellectual, Environmental, and Social.

Before we explore each dimension it is important for me to note that each dimension powerfully affects the others, especially when it comes to depletion. Significant depletion in one dimension negatively affects all of the other dimensions. Significant depletion in more than one dimension can have a monumentally negative effect on the human SPECIES.

Spiritual – for some Spirit resonates more powerfully. For me, both indicate that there is a life force that sustains us, a life force beyond our senses and comprehension. Paradoxically, it also resides within each of us, with in our relationships and within our communities (in our culture, for example, we speak of ‘team spirit’). We nurture ourselves spiritually or we nurture our spirit and we also deplete ourselves spiritually or we deplete our spirit. If we pause and reflect, most of us have our favorite ways of both nurturing and depleting ourselves spiritually or of nurturing and depleting our spirit. Consider that ‘religions’ in and of themselves do not necessarily nurture us spiritually or nurture our spirit (when ‘misused’ they will dramatically deplete both – as history, ancient and contemporary, reminds us). Our spirit is complemented by and supports and is supported by our Physical Dimension for we are both Spirit(ual) and Physical in our nature.

Physical – we are, obviously, physical beings. As a Species we are entrusted with our physical well-being. We nurture and deplete our physical dimension. Historically, a Big Question was – and continues to be – ‘Are We Our Brother’s Keeper?’ Within the past two decades there has been more and more research that continues to indicate that we are, by nature, an empathetic and caring Species (we are not inherently competitive). It seems it is easier for us to view our individual physical well-being as crucial, than it is to view the physical well-being of our Species as also being crucial. In our culture, for example, we still have not collectively committed to ensuring that each person has access to adequate health care and as a Species we suffer. As a Species we continue to make decisions that put our Species in harm’s way when it comes to our physical well-being. Our continued commitment to depletion affects us spiritually – affects our spirit – affects us physically and affects us emotionally.

Emotional – we are, by nature, an ‘emotional species.’ We like to think that we are ‘rational’ yet research continues to reveal that we are rooted in our emotions and that our emotions ‘take the lead’ in decision-making (we use our rational capabilities to justify our emotionally-based decisions). I can see a certain person who was getting angrier and angrier with me as I invited him to consider this idea (he was, of course, leading with his emotions). For example, in our culture we tend to elect our leaders based upon our emotional response to a candidate – we couch our choice in ‘reasonable language’ but prick the ‘reasonable’ a bit and the emotion comes spilling out.

As a Species our Spiritual (Spirit), Physical and Emotional well-being are intimately interconnected and interdependent. As we will consider next time, they powerfully affect and are powerfully affected by the other four dimensions that together with these three make up the seven dimensions of our SPECIES.