Friday, August 05, 2011
Transcendence in Nature
Sometimes it happens. Without preparation, without expectation--it presents itself--the transcendent moment, the sudden revelation of clarity, the reminder that peace, beauty, purity--these are not myths, but are realities readily available if we but take the time for the experience to reveal itself in an instant of pause.
This is what happened with me today along Boulder Creek. Yes, there was blue sky with well formed white fluffy clouds above, there was rushing water in the swollen creek bed, there were trees bending like women drying their tresses along the sides of the water.
And yet none of the individual components explained the magic of the moment--it was sudden, unforeseen--that which simply happened, and for an instant--or perhaps a few instants--there it was, with self forgotten and perception undirected--you and the natural setting, a quiet mystic happening that you witnessed and participated and were grateful for as if remembering something from your own past.
Note: If you look closely at the first picture above, you seem to see a young man writing on his lap top as he sits on water (good trick if you can do it). Actually, this effect was merely a function of the light against the water--an unexpected result of sun reflecting.
The second image is of a wolf (or coyote?). I did not meet him on my walk--rather he appears as part of a mural painted on one of the underpasses below a street crossing overhead.
(Neither of these was part of the "transcendent moment" I described above--they were rather "bonus" fun shots that presented themselves as I strolled along.)
