Researching Spirit

THURS., AUG. 25, 1988, 6:42 AM
FARM, STUDY

The task you almost have completed is one I indirectly arranged. I have told you I want you to continue to be active in your professional field. This was a unique opportunity for you to make such a contribution. You write rather well, and thus this talent was utilized. And… I have told you that I shall provide for your needs, even monetarily, and here is a little unexpected money. You had to work for it, but it still can come from Me.

This task gave you the opportunity to think about research in your field. You were appropriately critical, from your perspective, for there was generally little concern for the educative process or for the nature of persons who would be kept in positive health. (Yes, do add that statement about positive health.) Let it be an impetus for you to consider, with My good help, how spirit is involved in the research process.

There is always some amount of spirit in the researcher/writer, and yet the general ethic is that the dissertation should give little evidence of this. You discerned that the person concerned with suicide in adolescents did have some real feelings about this as a human problem, and his spirit did come through as he discussed what his findings suggested. The person who arranged and taught the experiment in nutrition education seemed to have a sense of spirit about the process of educating youngsters. She wanted to prove that if you do more than just talk about better eating the process will have more effect on behavior. Genuinely wanting to affect behavior toward better living is usually motivated by a spirit that wants to give service to others.

It is legitimate to do research concerning spirit in human life. Spirit is a reality, and therefore it can be studied, in any of the ways used in these papers, actually. It is possible to quantify aspects of spirit and do lots of statistical procedures with numbers collected. Such studies would not present much truth, but they could have the effect of interesting some professionals who value this approach to learning about humans.

I set you on a path of collecting stories that are the data for identifying and expanding the knowledge about spirit. You have not forgotten this, but you have not persisted with it as I would have you. Just be aware of this commission and listen for stories that come from students, colleagues, and other associates. Write these down and just keep a folder. Then will come a time of analysis, results, and conclusions. You shall be surprised at how much more there is to learn about spirit. Naturally these Teachings give you an advantage, but you cannot use these directly as a source professionally. (You are using them well in developing your Ruminations that, in fact, are a continuing research publication.)

Be more aware of this phenomenon of spirit as you direct or assist with research in the future. Encourage comments about spirit, in the subjects, in the process, or inherent in the topic. Encourage student researchers to consider spirit as they get into a research effort, even one that seems quite mundane and statistical. Just become a more active advocate of spirit as an active factor in this process. Spirit, after all, is an “activator.”

Since spirit is one of your inherent, personal interests in this part of your life and career, the more this can be a part of what you do and teach the more integrated and whole your life can become. Your field is one that allows and encourages this wholeness, but you have to become more aware of how your life and your work are meshed together through spirit. Just know that the research process can be an exercise of spirit. As you know it you can communicate this to others, some of whom are quite open to this message. This is a perspective you can offer to the field. All will not be interested, but many will.