Fresh, Life-Filled Air

My morning began today by reading a newspaper article citing a report on the worsening air pollution here in Phoenix. Not the most inspiring of starts, but an important reminder of a vital issue nonetheless.

The article I was reading made a point that I had never thought of before; that unlike other forms of pollution, we don't actually see air pollution until the conditions are ‘right', which is of course ironic, for when we can see the pollutants in the air around us, things are far from being right.

But because of this, it's easier to politely ignore this issue, even as it grows worse. However, we do so at our peril.

Reading that newspaper article led me to contemplate the profound spirituality, acknowledged by most faith traditions, of “breathing the air”.

In the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Greek New Testament, we find the words רוּחַ (ruach), and πνεῦμα (pneuma). Both words can be translated as ‘breath', however both words also have a spiritual aspect to them beyond simply describing a bodily function. It is the life-giving ruach of god that hovers over the waters in the Genesis account of creation, and it is the energizing pneuma of God that blows over the followers of Jesus at Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles.

Pondering the connections between breathing and the divine certainly helps us, in turn, to remember that breathing, that most natural and essential of impulses, is also an engagement with something beyond ourselves. And we all partake in that connection. All day, every day.

However you see it, when we become conscious of each breath we take, we certainly become more aware of our lives.

Breathing thoughtfully reminds us of who we are within the inter-woven wholeness of this life we share. And that can remind us to keep striving for the kind of atmosphere that we want to breathe. Not only in terms of the literal air quality around us, but perhaps we are called to be just as mindful of the emotional and spiritual atmosphere that we are breathing in as well. Are we consciously seeking and working for clean fresh spiritual air? The founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, puts it rather well: “We are creatures who inhabit an ocean of air,” he says. “We do not live beneath the sky; we live within it.” So let's be mindful of our breathing, and, while doing so, be mindful also of what actions we can each take to improve the air quality around us. And while we do so, let's remember the ruach and pneuma which gives us life each day.

Author Info: Andrew Moore

Chaplain Andrew is the Associate Chaplain here at the Campus. Before relocating to Arizona in 2014, Andrew lived and studied in the united Kingdom. Andrew was ordained in the Anglican Church and has worked in a variety of parishes.