“The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm. You have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces – one that is sad with suffering and the other laughs. But it is the same face – laughing or weeping – as lightning illuminates the dark…” — Black Elk
In the epic story of creation, it is said that on the first day the Divine separated light from dark.
Such a beautiful image – but when you consider that the sun, moon and stars were not yet created until the fourth day – then which light was being referenced?
Of course many scholars, thinkers and dreamers pose that on the second day of creation the Divine light, the spiritual light, was separated from – chaos, evil, despair – shadow.
Shadow happens when we turn our back on the light.
Chaos, evil and despair happen when we cannot face the light.
Some say that it takes courage to face the light.
It takes humility to stand in the sun.
Light fills all one’s senses. Light overflows.
I used to think, and sometimes I still do…that when you lie down under a tree and you see the light sparkling through the trees…than this sparkling light are truly little holes punched in our reality through which we can see the Divine…that this light is all that is real. This also applies, incidentally, to sparkly reflections on the water, dew on spider webs sparkling in the morning sun and lightning.
Pinpricks through our façade.
Through a pinhole camera we can glimpse the Divine — or a magpie collects sparkly things seeking to be closer to the magic.
There is this contemporary thinker…Abraham Joshua Heschel. He has coined the term Radical Amazement to describe, I believe, this way of thinking that everything all around us and just beyond is fraught with magic.
“Our goal should be to live life in Radical Amazement…to get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
Is our interest in the stars ambitious – that they are a challenge to explore?
Is it scientific – of what are they comprised?
Is it social – are we all alone in this universe?
Or just maybe….we are enchanted and enrapt at the possibility of new light.
