I have always considered it a sublime blessing to have been born in a place where my ancestors have lived for more than a thousand years. Hawai’i. Forty generations ago their canoes landed on volcanic rock in the middle of the deep Pacific Ocean. Where they came from and why they sailed over thousands of miles of open ocean to an unknown destination are mysteries lost to time.

Their ancient society revered nature and came to believe that the gods lived everywhere and in everything. Earth and man were equals. Each took care of the other. In essence, earth and man were family. Everything was alive. The trees and flowers were living beings, but so was the rock, the grain of sand and the rainbow. And so the ancient Hawaiians, in their watery isolation from all other civilizations on earth, had found the divine in the ordinary.

If each of us is to live the Fuji Declaration, then we must seek out and honor our Divine Spark.  The Fuji Declaration says in part, “We intend to live and act in ways that enhance the quality of life and the well-being of all forms of life on the planet, recognizing that all living things in all their diversity are interconnected and are one.”

How can we honor and fulfill the Fuji Declaration in our daily lives? First, we must be able to recognize and have gratitude for our own Divine Spark. The miracle of you. What makes you special. Your purpose in life. Why you are here. What you are on earth to do.

Next, we must recognize the Divine Spark in other people. Those we love and those we don’t. Those we know well, and those we have not met. The Divine Spark is present in all people. By honoring their Divine Spark, we honor their right to life, liberty, and happiness. Whether it is your boss at work, your noisy neighbor, the clerk at the grocery store, or the homeless man who sleeps in the post office doorway every night. Each has a Divine Spark.

Finally, we must recognize the Divine Spark in all life forms and in nature. The grain of sand I washed off my foot today may have been the final grain that anchored that ancient Hawaiian canoe onto the beach long ago. The raindrop that bounced off my nose yesterday may have quenched the thirst of a mother bird on the way to feed her young. The pink and lavender sunset I admired this evening was the same one that my sister watched from her kitchen window in California two hours ago.

Ultimately, we realize that there is nothing ordinary. It is all divine. It is all miraculous. Our Divine Spark comes from divinity, the greatness of the universe, whoever your God is. As our Divine Spark grows stronger, we ignite the spark in those we love and come to know.

Is there one ordinary thing you can do today to share your Divine Spark with another?

Sign The Fuji Declaration