It has been fashionable among intellectuals to accept only facts, those things which science can prove and replicate, and dismiss spirituality as unscientific. However, most of what people say they know they actually believe. My youngest son just passed his Illinois Constitution test. He has no actual or direct knowledge of nearly everything on that test, he simply accepts what it says in the workbook they gave him is factual. So it is based upon his faith in the authority of the workbook's authors and the teacher who gave it to him that he believes. Most of what we learned in school and consider facts are actually beliefs acquired based on faith.

Direct experience is sometimes at odds with scientific facts. It is richer and that richness is not simply because we are emotional. It is because we experience wonder and awe. We experience consciousness separate from everyday sensory experience. We are spiritual. This is not wishful thinking, it is an everyday ability often dismissed as "not getting down to business" or "stargazing." Perhaps stargazing is a good place to start.

Rumi suggests beauty surrounds us but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it. A butterfly, a single flower, the song of a bird, the scent of spring blossoms, a rabbit munching on clover, or a brilliant red cardinal eyeing you suspiciously from your fence can transform your consciousness from mundane thoughts to an awareness of the mystery of existence. Whether one attributes the origin of existence to a divine creator or to pools of amino acids forming replicating chains, the beauty of it is staggering and the awe of it beyond words. Life is short, so watch a sunset and as the stars come out, consider the gift of celebrating their beauty.

Rumi says the body itself is a screen to shield and partially reveal the light that's blazing inside your presence. One of my stock wisecracks is that if I could draw a line between mind and body, I'd be driving a nicer car. This focus on mind and body is the modern rational way of perceiving self. The deeper unity is between body and spirit. Because we are so prone to becoming overwhelmed with bodily desires, concerns, and pain, some spiritual practices have sought to set people free by denying them. Others have sought spirituality by indulging them. Rumi had a peculiar insight, which was to look for how our bodies inform us about our spirit. He said the love between man and God may be compared to the romance between lovers.

Rumi tells us that water, stories, the body, all the things we do, are mediums that hide and show what's hidden. Most of the earth is water and standing on the edge of it is a place where we can uncover what we allow to remain hidden, that we do not begin and end at our skins, that we are connected to each other and our world in ways beyond rational comprehension, that we are spirits. We are not just conscious in wakefulness, we are conscious in dreams and we are conscious in visions. Not all visions are the product of mental illness or drug abuse. In the pineal gland of our brains is a natural neurochemical, N, N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, which produces visions.

It is silly to say that dreams or visions are real like the room around me and the computer in front of me. However, my experience and memory of dreams are part of my story. Dreams aren't simply in my brain any more than my awareness of the room is in my eyes. Consciousness is actively created by our perceptions and expectations, what we think is important and what we dismiss, what we remember and what makes sense to us. Part of making sense of our existence is weaving together a story that explains our experience.

People who have investigated sensory deprivation in dark tanks of water find that humans tend to experience visions naturally when they are denied external sensations. When Dr. Rick Strassman studied DMT, he found that it could also induce a kind of sensory deprivation where subjects saw no visions but were nevertheless aware of themselves. His research also asks the question if spirituality is unscientific after all.

Rumi tells us to study water, stories, the body, and all the things we do. Perhaps dreams and visions are another way our consciousness tells stories. Stories do not have to be factual to contain truth. Ancient religious scriptures are full of parables that were not taught as facts. They were told to us as stories that reveal something that was sometimes hidden, something that was true.

We can enjoy being washed, Rumi invites us, with this secret we sometimes know and do not. We are body and spirit. Denying neither we can stand on the beach and touch the mystery and freedom.