What is going to happen for the newborn is that they will be faced with the challenge of sustaining their Primal Spirituality in the world as it is. Their human capacities are going to develop so that their Primal Spirituality can express itself in their life and influence all they touch. Their body will grow and strengthen. Their mind will learn about the world around them and gain the powers of imagination and creativity. Their heart will experience love—love for other human beings, for the world around them, and hopefully for their own human form. They might forget their original innocence and wonder. But it will never leave them.

All of this is going to happen for that newborn. But they will never become more spiritual than they were on that day they came into the world. 

Now imagine the person who was the original leader of your faith—or someone who was the first inspiration of any faith you know something about.

• Abraham, as he felt the great urge to leave his home and find something that might be a blessing to all people…
• Buddha as an overwhelming serenity came over him under the Bodhi tree…
• Moses as he heard a voice speaking to him out of the burning bush…
• Jesus as he wept for humanity and begged the people around him to love each other…

These are all examples of people experiencing their Primal Spirituality.

Primal Spirituality is the pure gold of human experience. And then there is the booby prize. The booby prize is a belief in someone else’s experience of Primal Spirituality. It is religious dogma and idolizations of spiritual gurus.

The booby prize is attempting to be spiritual when you already are. It is a sense of shame over who you are as a human being instead of an embrace of your human soul with love.

My own Primal Spirituality has called to me all my life. As a teenager, I didn’t want to settle for the booby prize. I deeply desired to preserve my original innocence as a human being and my original experience of spiritual intimacy. And even when I felt the urge to be something in the world—to find a measure of personal success and fulfillment—I never wanted to sacrifice the primal urge that has called to me. I wanted who I am in the world to communicate who I am inside.

That’s why I moved to Sunrise Ranch in the year 2000. I had found a community that shared my values and my love for Primal Spirituality. And I wanted to be a part of it.

Since then, I have stood on any soapbox I could find to tell the world about Primal Spirituality. I wrote a book, taught courses around the world, and talked to anyone who would listen. I’ve experienced the ecstasy of sharing an experience of Primal Spirituality with other people. And I’ve had a front-row seat as a witness to how people sometimes lose their innocence and goodness and settle for the booby prize.

Through it all, the Sunrise Ranch community has been in a deep flow. We have discovered that our Primal Spirituality isn’t only at the beginning of things. It is a reality we have the opportunity to know and share now in the world as it is. And when we do, there is nothing sweeter, nothing more fulfilling, nothing more significant.

If you have read this far, I’m guessing that you share a deep interest in Primal Spirituality. You might not ever have called it that. But my guess is that it has been calling to you. And you are hearing what it is saying and answering it in your life. You might even desire to share the experience with other people who won’t think you’re crazy.

So if you feel your Primal Spirituality calling, here are two things I can recommend:

• Participate in events online with the Sunrise Ranch community. We hold services that share an experience of Primal Spirituality on Wednesday evening and Sunday morning. This is an opportunity for us all to share in a deep, immersive spiritual flow. Click here to find out more.
• Sign up here for my blog on my website, davidkarchere.com. It’s free. And each week, I post a quote from my book on Primal Spirituality, Becoming a Sun, with some of my short, current reflections on the subject it raises.

Whatever you do, I hope you enter a deeper experience of your Primal Spirituality and share it with everyone you meet.