Living at the Intersection of Heaven and Earth

There is a dimension of human consciousness that many never pause to consider. I don’t present this as a universal framework, nor do I insist that everyone must see it as I do. This is simply my lived understanding—one that has unfolded gradually over a lifetime of faith, experience, and awareness.

I experience myself as having two aspects of being: a horizontal self and a vertical self.

The horizontal self is my natural life—my earthly awareness, my body, my history, and my participation in the visible world. The vertical self is my spiritual life—my awareness of God, eternity, and my identity in Christ. For much of my life, I lived almost entirely conscious of the horizontal, while remaining largely unaware of the vertical reality that was already present within me.

The Cross as the Meeting Place

The cross provides a profound image for this dual awareness. It is formed by two intersecting lines—one vertical, one horizontal. In that intersection, heaven and earth meet.

This is not only a historical or theological symbol; it is an experiential one. The cross represents the place where my spiritual and natural selves converge within lived human experience.

I am a spiritual being in Christ, and Christ is in me. This is the heavenly, vertical reality. At the same time, I am a natural being—born of Adam’s earthen body, living in time and space. These two realities coexist within me.

Heaven and earth are not merely distant realms. They meet here.

They meet in us.

An Early Awakening

From birth, I lived fully adapted to the ways of the natural world. My consciousness was shaped by earthly life, routine, and identity. Yet when I was six years old, something changed.

I remember sitting in church on a Sunday night while my father—who was the pastor—was preaching. I was in the back row, playing hangman, half-engaged at best. Then, without warning, awareness broke in.

I became aware of God.

Not as an idea. Not as doctrine. But as presence.

I went to the altar that night and accepted God. That moment remains alive in me. Looking back, I now understand it as the awakening of my spiritual consciousness—the first time my vertical self stepped forward into awareness.

Since then, I have come to recognize what Scripture describes as being “hidden with Christ in God.” I can sense God’s presence, read Scripture with living awareness, and know His nearness. My parents had testified to this gift of knowing and being known by God from an early age.

When the Spirit Moves

Growing up in church, there were moments we called “a move of the Spirit.” These were times when something shifted collectively—when the atmosphere itself seemed charged with divine presence.

People felt more aware, more open, more alive.

For a long time, I believed those moments were rare—dependent on the setting, the gathering, or the timing. But later in life, I discovered something transformative:

This awareness is not confined to services or special moments.

It is accessible.

Through meditation, stillness, and conscious alignment, I found myself returning again and again to that same inner altar I encountered as a child. God’s presence was no longer something I waited for—it was something I entered.

Levels of Consciousness

There are layers of awareness within us—natural and spiritual. Most of life trains us to stay grounded exclusively in the natural. But the spiritual dimension is already present, waiting to be noticed.

In quiet moments, especially through meditation, I ascend into this awareness. Sometimes I feel God’s presence more clearly in solitude than in public worship. The stillness becomes a doorway.

This is not escapism. It is integration.

A Hybrid Existence

I believe the core of who we are—the “I AM” of our being—will one day rise out of this earthly body and enter a purely spiritual existence. Until then, we live as hybrids: born of earth, yet originating in spirit.

During this phase of my journey, I have learned to coexist with both realities.

I can be fully present in a conversation while simultaneously aware of the spiritual realm. At times, I perceive spiritual realities even as I remain engaged in ordinary moments. If you ever notice tears in my eyes while I’m speaking, it may be because I am sensing God’s presence right then and there.

This awareness is not something I perform. It is something I practice—by aligning my thoughts, words, and actions with spiritual truth.

Practicing the Spiritual Self

I call this practicing my spiritual self. It isn’t rigid or formulaic, but certain postures help cultivate it:

·       Stillness and meditation

·       Attentive awareness

·       Alignment with truth rather than reaction

Yet even without a specific experience, I know this:

I am spiritual.

I exist in a spiritual form now, even while living in a natural body. I do not need constant confirmation to validate what is already true. One day, at death, this reality will simply become unmistakable.

Revealed by the Spirit

Scripture affirms this inner knowing:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit… Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
— 1 Corinthians 2:9–12 (NKJV)

The Spirit reveals what the natural mind cannot grasp. What was once hidden becomes known—not intellectually, but relationally.

Walking Forward

This journey is not about superiority or special insight. It is about awareness—about recognizing what has always been present.

The cross stands within us.

The vertical and the horizontal meet here.

May your awareness deepen. May your inner altar remain alive. And may your journey be blessed as heaven and earth continue to converge within you.

Have a blessed journey.