Encounters
'Everything has its own voice. Thunder and lightning and stars and planets, flowers, birds, animals, trees, -- all these have voices, and they constitute a community of existence that is profoundly related.' ~ Thomas Berry
As you may be beginning to realize, I have a love and appreciation for the mystical, the side of life that cannot be explained away by the intellect, the literal or the logical view of things. I find the mysterious and subliminal to hold as much validity as the literal. When we choose to relate with the world thru our heart and allow our imagination to guide us, life completely shifts to one where the impossible becomes possible. Isn't that how much of scientific discoveries started out? Wasn't it one person, or a small group of like-minded individuals, open to their imagination that chose a different possibility? Took an alternative view point that led to drawing up a brand new hypothesis on the nature of things?
One of the wonders of childhood was that our imagination could take us where ever we wanted to go. We could speak with the butterflies and spend time exploring the back side of the moon.
I am not a trained scientist, an academic, or a leading expert in the fields of logic or philosophy. But, like everyone alive today, I was born into a unique culture that has shaped my values, my behaviors and many of my beliefs. Science and the gifts received through perceiving the world through a logical lens made a tremendous impact on my young child self. They kept me safe and taught me boundaries and how things work. But, so too, did feeling the shocking sensation of snow under my feet and branches brushing my cheek as I stumbled out of the backside of a wardrobe into a magical wood. Or when I was lulled to sleep sailing the cosmic sea with Winkin, Blinkin and Nod. Who reading these words hasn't wondered about what the back side of the moon is like, or what it would feel like to hibernate all winter in a cozy den? I know part of me would love to be able to shrink in size and live like a Lilliputian under a mushroom and speak the language of butterflies. As children we all had our own unique stories, dreams and desires. The world was full of wonder and delight.
When we walk through life with science and logic holding one hand and the wisdom of our imagination and intuition holding the other, we can truly encounter the essence of the life experience we are having. The place where we are, the other beings we are with, and the experience we are having become much more of a felt sensation where the spiritual dimensions and the tangible are perceived as one. We move beyond the mind into the heart and dwell, if only for a moment, with the true existence and expression of that which is before us. The video below speaks to this idea beautifully.
In this short video, David Fleming, former resident ecologist at Schumacher College, and an independent thinker and writer on environmental issues, shares his view on what it means to have an experience of encounter.
To learn more about this film and to get involved click the link below.
The key is found in our own experience. We can be inspired by those around us, by the stories they share. And... we can become present to, and enlivened by, our own intimacies and magical encounters that infuse all the interconnected moments that weave our lives together.
What comes alive for you?
What stirs the depths within your own being?
