The Five Bearings

A framework for spiritual inquiry, self-knowledge, and conscious living.

The Five Bearings are five movements of spiritual awareness: Illumination, Mediation, Love, Authority, and courage.

The Five Bearings

  1. Illumination

  2. Mediation

  3. Love

  4. Authority

  5. Courage

Practices of the Five Bearings

Discernment

Integration

Embodiment

Communion

The Practices provide ways of working with the Five Bearings in daily life. Each Practice may be applied to any one Bearing or to several Bearings together.

Illumination

Illumination is the movement of becoming aware of what is present, within us and around us, before we rush to interpret it.

It begins with attention: noticing the thoughts, feelings, patterns, symbols, and experiences that are already shaping our inner life.

Through practices such as meditation, contemplation, journaling, and attentive observation, illumination helps us see more clearly before we decide what an experience means.

Illumination does not require certainty. It asks us to become present enough to notice what is actually there.

Mediation

Mediation is the movement of creating space between opposing forces, perspectives, or inner tensions so that understanding can emerge.

It asks us to remain present with complexity rather than rushing toward judgement or resolution. Through listening, reflection, and dialogue we learn to hold differences without allowing to control us.

Mediation does not require us to erase disagreement or abandon conviction. It invites us to seek relationship, understanding, and a path forward while honoring the integrity of those involved.

Love

Love is the movement of recognizing the inherent worth of ourselves, others, and the life we share.

Love asks us to move beyond sentiment and into relationship. It calls for compassion, presence, honesty, and care, while respecting both our own boundaries and those of others.

Through attention and action, love helps us respond to the needs of others without losing ourselves. It allows tenderness and strength to exist together.

Love does not require agreement of approval. It asks us to encounter ourselves and others with dignity, compassion, and a willingness to remain present.

Authority

Authority is the movement of recognizing and accepting responsibility for the choices, values, and direction of our own lives.

Authority asks us to develop an inner center form which we can act with clarity and integrity. It requires us to examine what influences us, what we consent to, and where we give our power away.

Through self-knowledge, reflection, and experience, authority helps us make decisions that reflect our deepest values while respecting the freedom and dignity of others.

Authority is not domination in control. It is the capacity to stand within our own responsibility, exercise sound judgment, and act with integrity.

Courage

Courage is the movement of acting in the presence of uncertainty, vulnerability, or fear while remaining grounded in what we know to be true.

Courage asks us to move when clarity calls for action, even when the outcome cannot be guaranteed. It allows us to face change, loss, conflict and the unknown without surrendering our integrity.

Through practice and experience, courage helps us develop the strength to speak, choose, create, and change when circumstances require it.

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the capacity to acknowledge fear without allowing fear to determine our direction.

Explore the Five Bearings in Community

The Five Bearings are not a creed or doctrine, nor are they steps that must be followed in sequence. Each Bearing may be explored individually or together with others, using the Practices as ways of reflection and engagement.

The AnimaOfSpirit community offers a place to explore these ideas more deeply through teaching, conversation, reflection, and shared practice.