Monday, January 16, 2012

Magical Manifestations

Written by Gayle in her blog, One Bird Watching:

"In his autobiography Surprised by Joy, C.S.Lewis writes about those moments of joy that began for him at the age of six, as he gazed out the window of his nursery and saw something that he could not define but that later he was to call "the secret signature of each soul," the longing "not merely to see beauty...but to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it" (Transposition and Other Addresses, 1949."

I, too, remember that six-year-old wonder and complete openness to unbridled awe and joy. This was the age when I was taken by train across the country to Colorado. I can still feel the majesty of the purple mountains seen for the first time and the immensity of the amber waves of grain.

Some of my most precious moments have been in sharing the wonder of cherished children. I had the privileged of holding a friends thre-year-old daughter on my lap the first time she experienced three-dimensional bubbles "floating" over her head. The absolute innocent abandon of that child as she reached for the bubbles with absolute faith in their reality was a wonder to behold.

I was also gifted with watching my two-year-old grandson as he first experienced sunset over Lake Pontchartrain. He ran to the window, held out his hand, and with absolute awe said, "Granny, see the big orange ball! Can I touch it?" I didn't see the need to immediately dis-abusive them of their innocent belief that these were things that they could hold in their hands. I simply enjoyed sharing their magic with them.

I also know how this feeling has been systematically attacked in me and other innocents by those who wish to control our passions and pretend to know the unknowable. Six-years-old is when I was taught the intrinsic evil of humanity and all the shame that this belief entails. We were taught to examine our consciences every night for the evil that we visited on the world rather than remembering and being grateful for every moment of magic that was produced for our pleasure.

I don't really care about what makes the sky appear blue, or the mountain tops in Colorado seem purple. I prefer to believe that tiny infants' smiles are signs of dancing with the angels rather than gas pains. I do believe that my manifestations of The Almighty are just as valid as those manifestations written about by the scribes in what is accepted as Judeo-Christian sacred scripture. I don't believe this makes me an atheist or an agnostic; I believe this makes me, once again, able to embrace my own innocence.

There is much in creation that we are not meant to define, only to enjoy. I have come to accept that there are different visions of The Almighty, just as we have differing visions of each of our loved ones. I believe that if we could explain and define The Almighty once and for all, this would limit The Creative Energy that powers all of creation.