Monday, November 10, 2003
The Color of the Wind
We see color in the wind just as we see meaning in our lives.
Wind, as we usually experience it, has no color of its own—it simply reveals to us the color of whatever passes through it, whether that be your face or mine, blowing sand or leaves, springtime clouds or sheets of rain.
In the same way, a life’s value comes from the thoughts, actions and spiritual qualities which we allow to pass through it. “True loss,” it has been said, “is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.”
But the air itself can be bright as well. The whole sky shines with the scattered light of the sun. If it is seen over long distances, as in the Grand Canyon, the mass of air will make distant red stones appear blue. In fact, any molecules in the universe have a color of their own as long as they move light around, each one in its own way.
My mind shivers with awe to consider that even the wind has a color, that if you look deeply enough even into the blackest corner of the night sky, you will find the brilliance of billions of galaxies, as well as all the stars, worlds, and peoples that must inhabit them.
Perhaps, behind all the darkness of our small and mortal lives, there is a mysterious brightness, an inherent beauty like that of the sky, which all souls, whether good or bad, must ultimately reflect.
Science • Way of Life • Optimism • (37) Trackbacks • Permalink
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Writing in the Mirror
Everyday, we stand in front of a mirror, and we examine our faces for new deficiencies of various sorts. We try to heal them or cover them up, and we hopefully leave home satisfied with our appearance. Ideally, this activity gives us a sense of physical readiness and lets our minds get started on the other activities of the day.
Yet, when we go to bed, we just cut off our experiences of the day, like raw meat, ideas and feelings bleeding all over. Our dreams often have difficulty digesting this and making sense of it.
Writing can help us prepare for our dreams, just as the mirror prepares us for the day. We may not remember what we dream, but we will almost certainly go into it prepared. We can see before us the ideas we carry into that hidden world, and find in them a reflection of our souls. This process of reflection, which writing helps us ignite, cooks the experiences of the day into a fully digestible meal. Our dreams spread its lessons throughout the whole body and soul.
The problem for most people is that they think that they always have to write something really good. They may feel shy about writing down their deep feelings and thoughts. Of course everyone wants a finished article or story to communicate something special to readers, but we must first give ourselves permission to just communicate with our own souls as easily as we do with our own faces.
In these moments of utmost privacy, we may find that writing is more like listening than it is like speaking. We simply record the voices of our soul, our experience, and our life as it was today. From the image of who we are when we go to bed, we may have a better idea of who we want to be once we wake up.
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