The cross is part of my spiritual practice. Not as dogma, but as a sacred symbol for what meets in the heart: Heaven and Earth, above and below. And all beings of this world. A symbol of where everything comes together, in the heart, united through love.

But somewhere along the way, this symbol was distorted. In ancient Rome, it became an instrument of torture — later adopted by a religion that replaced the heart with sacrifice, suffering, and guilt.

Love became conditional. Salvation was promised only in the afterlife. Connectedness turned into separation. Heaven and Earth were split. Spirit was placed above the body, which was now seen only as a trial — just like life itself. The Earth became an expendable place of banishment: exploited, neglected, sacrificed. The beings of this world became disconnected from themselves, from each other.

That loss is still alive today. It is a world-weariness, rarely named, yet speaking from an ancient wound. It is not only personal, but a collective expression of a disconnection woven deeply into our humanity:

– the devaluation of the body

– the glorification of death into a longing for it

– the conditioning of guilt and shame

– the lost sense of belonging in joy and love – free from victim identity

We were taught to seek the light, but not to hold space for the shadow. Darkness was labeled evil, yet without darkness, light has no meaning. Those who avoid the shadow remain trapped in the search for the light, and in doing so, block what we all long for: Wholeness. Connectedness. Love.

For those who can see, hear, feel all of this, the pain is often unbearable.

Why do we believe in these ancient stories that deny life? Why do people kill in the name of symbols that prevent loving communion? Perhaps this pain is useful, because it keeps us occupied. Because it paralyses us, binds us internally to guilt, dependencies, and promises of redemption that never truly come, but keep the hope alive.  To a “higher place” that always seems just out of reach.

Maybe healing begins, something new begins, with the old, original trinity: Heaven – Earth – consciously embodied form. Not through rising out of the body, but through returning into it. Not fleeing into the light, but embracing the whole.

And maybe that’s exactly why we’re right here, right now.

© Peggy Vogt 2025