Have you ever seen the Northern lights, or sat and listened to a choir harmonizing in a large building? Maybe it was watching the sunset over the western sky, as the last rays of light for that day pass off into eternity. Perhaps it was a moment of reflection deep in the mountains, where the solitude allowed you to connect with something that feels larger than yourself.
However, whenever or wherever, we all seem to at some point have had the experience of feeling connected to something that is definitely beyond ourselves.
I remember very clearly the last solar eclipse. I was working that day, and the patient who I expected to show up for an appointment never made it. I got to stand out in the parking lot by my office, and share the moment with some friends who own a business just opposite mine. I remember this incredible sense of wonder as the sky darkened, and nature seemed to pause and take a deep breath.
At the moment where the light was lowest, I felt a sudden understanding and connection with the universe.
It’s like I know logically that we are on a planet revolving around a sun, but in that moment I had the actual experience of feeling the light from that sun being blocked by a moon orbiting our planet, and I could sense the majesty and wonder and vastness of where I was standing. One man, connected by gravity to a planet, hurtling through the darkness, and yet feeling like I was a part of it all.
Like there was something more, of which I was just a part.
If you’ve ever experienced this, and I hope you really have, you know that what I’m trying to describe is very difficult to put into words. About 45 minutes from our house is an area where people go to gaze at the stars, because you are kind of out in the middle of nowhere with very little light. On a clear night without a moon, you can see the majesty of the Milky Way as it crosses the sky.
It’s an awe-inspiring and humbling sight, to realize how small we are.
And there’s something about that perspective that moves me. I think it’s far too easy for us to get caught up in our own daily lives, with our personalities and our problems, our trials and our triumphs. We lose sight of the fact that although in our own way we think we are important, in the grander scheme of things we all play a very small part in the history of the world, and in the comings and goings of the universe.
But the majesty of life declares that though our part may be small, without us the very nature of reality would be different.
I think the more frequently we expose ourselves to the aspect of the ethereal, the greater our potential to obtain a wider and deeper perspective on life. The better we see our place in the universe, and our importance, the more we will come to understand the divinity that is life, and grow in both our respect and our respectfulness for others.
Because once you have seen the whole, you realize the incredible value of all its component parts.
The older I get, and the further down my pathway I travel, have come to realize that there is not a person on this earth who isn’t important. I may not have always seen that truth before, and if perchance our paths crossed before I understood that, I’m very sorry that I didn’t recognize the majesty of your soul. We’re all learning, and some of us are further beyond, and some further behind.
But all are important. All are a part of the whole.
It can be a struggle sometimes to remember this. I don’t claim to have any special talent or understanding of how to maintain that reverence and respect every moment of every day, but all I can tell you is that the more I connect to the ethereal, and the more I’m able to sense the grandeur and majesty of the universe in which we live, the stronger I feel my connection to you and to everyone around me.
Bathing my soul in the wonder of creation, I find all of creation a wonder.
Including you.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings