This article came about after reading’s amazing Imagine 5 newsletter, which, I assume is also a good timing considering the sad geopolitical shenanigans going around today. It is also part of the build your own spiritual cocktail series. We present these ancient wisdom for you to pick and chose what fits, disregarding what doesn’t. And as with any good cocktails, tweak as you wish and update the recipe to find what fits. Eventually throughout life, you realize you need less and less ingredients.
In the Arctic regions of Greenland, Alaska, and northern Canada, the Inuit people have known something modern science is only now beginning to rediscover: everything is connected by an invisible life force that animates all existence. They just call it Sila.
Sila (also called Silap Inua) is more than a traditional spirit or deity. It’s the breath of life itself, the primary component of everything that exists. It’s the wind that moves across the tundra, the weather that shapes daily survival, the consciousness that perceives, and the invisible force that connects every living being to every other.
Sila offers us that ancient wisdom for today’s chaotic pace.
The Breath That Is Everything
The Inuit word Sila carries multiple meanings that English can’t capture. It can mean “breath,” “spirit,” “wind,” “weather,” “sky,” “air,” “intellect,” “outer space,” or “universe.” These expressions point to the same fundamental reality.This isn’t confusion—it’s ancient wisdom we sort of lost over the centuries.
Sila is similar to concepts found across cultures: Prana in Hindu philosophy, Qi in Chinese medicine, Pneuma in ancient Greece, Mana in Polynesian traditions. These names mean “vital force”—the invisible energy that animates life and makes existence possible.
Still, Sila has a unique quality. There is no transcendence or escape from the material world, Sila is profoundly present in the here and now. It’s in your breath this moment, in the wind outside. in the animal hunted for food and the ice you walk across.
Personal and Universal
One of Sila’s most beautiful aspects is its dual nature. On one level, Sila is personal—it’s the individual life force or soul (called anirniq) within each being. Every person, every animal, every element of nature possesses its own sila. This is why traditional Inuit saying acknowledges: “The great danger of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls.”
When you understand that the caribou you hunt has a soul just like yours, hunting becomes a sacred act requiring respect, gratitude, and careful observance of proper ritual. You’re not simply taking meat—you’re ending a life that matters, that has consciousness, that is animated by the same force that animates you.
But Sila is also universal—a formless, divine power that pervades everything. It’s the substance that souls are made of, the connecting force between all living beings, and the consciousness that governs existence itself. Personal sila is like a wave, while universal Sila is the ocean from which all waves arise and to which they return.
This understanding shaped how the Inuit related to their environment. The Arctic is one of Earth’s harshest places, where a streak of bad luck could wipe out an entire community. The Inuit didn’t see their harsh nature as something to conquer or dominate like brutes. They recognized it as alive with spirit—demanding respect, reciprocity, and constant awareness. And from all accounts they survived for a very long time in this seemingly inhospitable environment.
The Spirit of Weather and Wisdom
Sila is particularly associated with weather. Coming from people whose survival depended on reading atmospheric conditions, this concept is experienced as weather as expression of consciousness.
When storms raged or hunts failed, the Inuit understood that Sila might be disturbed. Perhaps by human misconduct—broken taboos, disrespect toward animals, violations of proper relationships. Something is off. This type of seeing nature helps us keep an open eye around subtle changes which can reflect deeper inner changes within us. The angakkuit (shamans) could communicate with Sila. Their role was to restore balance when it was seen as being disrupted.
When you consider how human activity plunders nature without much regard for its fragile ecological balance, we can now see from various International sources how this affects climate and weather patterns globally. A good friend who is an American Native reminded me that this ancestors had lived here for millennia without disturbing much the environment. The expulsed Europeans managed to not only pollute the land, air, and water of the nature, but also managed to do the same globally in as little as 250 years. It’s quite a record.
And today, science is showing something ancient communities had known for millennia, that ecosystems are interconnected webs. When disrupting one element, it cascades through the entire system. The Druids and Celt talked about a gigantic cobweb where one pull or tension on one strand reverberated everywhere.
We’re discovering that consciousness and matter influence each other in ways quantum sciences are only beginning to understand. The Inuit, like many ancient civilizations knew these things. They experienced them directly through and expressed it with relationship with Sila.
Wisdom From the Wind
Among the Copper Inuit, shamans were believed to receive their power from Sila—the “Wind Indweller.” Even their helping spirits were called silap inue. This reminds us that spiritual power comes not from isolated individual development, but from alignment with the universal life force flowing through everything. We don’t generate power, in general. We pump, we accumulate it, we cycle it. We tap into the power that’s already “out there”. The ancient ones saw it as waiting in the wind, present in breath, flowing through the cosmos, ready to be tapped. Perhaps Nikola Tesla was after something concrete after all.
We can access this knowledge using what many did before, wordless thinking—accessing wisdom beyond concepts and liberating ourselves from clumsy language. Like Taoism’s Wu Wei, it’s about alignment rather than force. Similar to Shintoism’s recognition of kami in nature, it sees spirit pervading the physical world rather than transcending it.
What Sila Teaches Modern Life
In our disconnected age, where we experience ourselves as separate from nature, from each other, even from our own bodies, Universal concepts like Sila offers profound teachings: Everything shares the same life force. The breath moving through our lungs shares the same energy then the wind moving through the trees. The consciousness aware of these words is connected to the consciousness in every living being. Separation is illusion. Interconnection is reality.
Essentially, it reminds us to respect, if not have a sense of awe looking at life, especially the diversity on this planet. When the Inuit killed an animal for food, they took only what they needed, as Native American did and so many other previous societies. They wasted nothing and understood that you shouldn’t disrespect what gives you life without consequences.
Quantum sciences are showing that there might something to the concept that weather and consciousness are connected. If the observer influences the object, it stands to reason we effect our environment. The state of your inner world affects the outer world, and vice versa. This isn’t magic—it’s recognizing that consciousness and environment continuously influence each other. The sacred is immediate and present. Sila is in your next breath, in the air around you, in the present moment. The sacred isn’t distant—it’s here, now, always. Finally, power comes from alignment, not domination. True strength isn’t controlling nature or other people. It’s aligning yourself with the natural flow of life force moving through everything.
Practicing Sila Awareness
Pay attention to your breath. Feel the air moving in and out. See how that’s Sila flowing through you. The same force that moved through countless beings before you and will continue after you.
Observe the wind out on a walk. When you feel wind on your skin, recognize it as the same force that breathes through your lungs. Not separate. Not other. The same energy expressing itself differently.
Showing respect for what you consume is much more that a New Age thing to do. Whether animals or plants, both possess life force. Awareness and acknowledgement expresses gratitude. That’s not a bad quality to develop. At home, we have done our best to waste as little as possible. We recognize that your life depends on other lives ending, mostly plants for us.
Become aware of the weather consciously. Instead of complaining about rain or cold, notice how atmospheric conditions affect your inner state. How does the weather of your mind influence those around you?
Start to see spirit in all things. The Inuit understood that even “inanimate” objects possess inua—spirit, owner, consciousness. Practice seeing everything as alive in its own way rather than as dead matter.
The Thread That Weaves Through All
As we explore ancient wisdom traditions at The Wholistic Center—from Buddhism’s recognition of interconnection to Taoism’s flow of vital energy to Shintoism’s kami spirits—we find the same thread: life is unified by an invisible force that connects everything.
Sila is the Inuit name for this universal truth. It reminds us that the breath you’re taking right now connects you to every being that has ever breathed, to the wind that shapes weather patterns, to the consciousness that pervades the cosmos.
In a time when climate crisis threatens survival, when disconnection breeds loneliness, when we’ve forgotten our place in the web of life, Sila whispers ancient wisdom: you are not separate. You never were. The same force breathing through you breathes through all existence.
As the pathless path teaches, you must find your own way to this truth. But the Inuit offer a beautiful starting point: pay attention to your breath. Notice the wind. Respect what gives you life. Recognize that the force animating you animates everything.
Sila is not something you need to find. It’s what you already are—the breath of life itself, forever flowing, forever connecting, forever present.
All you have to do is remember.
Continue Your Journey
This article is also featured on The Wholistic Center Podcast, where we explore indigenous wisdom and ancient traditions for modern living.
Explore related wisdom:
- Buddhism: What a Prince’s Search for Truth Teaches Us – Understanding interconnection
- Taoism: What Ancient China’s Way of Water Teaches Us – The flow of vital energy
- Shintoism: Japan’s Ancient Way of the Kami – Spirit in all things
- The Wordless Thought Exercise – Accessing wisdom beyond concepts
- The Pathless Path: Why Your Inner Compass Can’t Be Mapped – Your unique journey to truth
Visit The Wholistic Center to discover more indigenous wisdom and ancient traditions.