The Sacred Directions

Reflections on The Sacred Directions

The four directions--East, West, South, North--have been part of human spirituality since pre-recorded history. Many Indigenous cultures consider the four directions to be gods, and they are worshipped as such. The Native Americans, for example, include the honoring of the four directions in many of their ceremonies, and the meaning of the four directions are a significant part of their traditional spiritual teachings (e.g. Peace Shield teachings).

So why has something that seems like such a mundane aspect of the physical world taken on such universal spiritual significance? Personally, this question was a real mystery to me, until I read a recently published book titled The Purposeful Universe by Carl Johan Calleman, Ph.D. In this fascinating and far-reaching book Calleman introduces an alternative to the neo-Darwinist theory of evolution. He explains that located in each human cell is an organelle called the centriole, which is a direct reflection of what Calleman calls the cosmic Tree of Life. There is emerging scientific evidence of this so-called Tree of Life and its association with the Big Bang and the creation of the universe. According to Calleman it is the Tree of Life that established three-dimensionality, which in turn generated the four directions.

To be more accurate, three dimensionality generates at least six directions: East, West, South, North, Below and Above. And to complete the picture from a spiritual perspective, a seventh "direction" must be considered--that is, the Center. With all seven directions in place, we can now orient ourselves as a hologram of the cosmos at the center of--and profoundly connected to--the entire Universe.