To Wonder and be Enthralled

Last updated on: July 19, 2017 at 11:48 am by Gerard A. Murphy

To Wonder and be Enthralled 2017-07-19T11:48:52-04:00 Gerard A. Murphy

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The Book of Genesis recounts God’s creation of the world in 7 days. And 7 days of filming at El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain produced the visual artistry of the video you just watched.

What is it about sensual eloquence such as this that takes our breath away? What is it about our incomprehensibly ineffable planet that reduces us to stillness and silence?

I believe it is this: a mysterious and numinous sense of communion with what we are gazing at. Because what we are gazing at is who we are.

Perspective

In my newly released book, Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life, I reflect on the immensity of it all . .

Take the birth of the universe—the observable one, that is . . the universe began as an infinitesimal speck—a trillions of degrees hot speck that exploded into what would eventually become trillions of stars and billions of galaxies. Let’s put that in perspective: next time you’re out in your yard at night and you take a gander at the vast canopy of starlit sky, point your fingertip up against that vastness and imagine that your fingertip (proportionately speaking) is covering one million galaxies.

Chapter 1 ‘Birthing‘

Yes, I agree—such a perspective helps but is also limited. Nothing can even come close to attuning our brilliant (but finite) human minds to the immensity, complexity, elegance and multidimensionality of the universe . .

It’s an unfathomable mystery and is non-containable . . But what helps me to “get my head around” it all, is to sink into my heart and spirit and realize that, above and beyond the everyday mind chatter and compulsive distractions that consume most of us most of the time, is the essence of who we are, why we’re here, and the breathtaking beauty therein.

As I note in the same chapter from my book . .

I allow the mysteries and marvels of the Universe Story—our deep-time evolutionary journey—to transport me to a state of conscious awareness where I realize that as I point my finger tip up at the night sky, I am the universe reflecting on and marveling at itself.

Chapter 1 ‘Birthing‘

Time Capsule

Yesterday as I sauntered home from the Abingdon Farmers Market FullSizeRender with my gallon of raw milk and sausage meat, I passed one of Abingdon’s unique landmarks: our Time Capsule monument in front of the Town Hall.

The capsule (not sure what’s in it) was buried to mark the occasion of the town’s bicentennial on October 5, 1978 and may be opened on October 5, 2078.

As I continued my saunter home, it set me wondering: what world events, progress, setbacks, catastrophes, revelations and transformations in the evolution of humankind will have occurred by this date?

And my hope is, a profoundly renewed trust and respect for each other, the planet that sustains us, and the interwoven web of life we are an integral part of.

I reflect on this delicate relationship in Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life . .

We are so deeply disconnected from the anima mundi of our planetary home, as to be virtual exiles on the very soil and oceans that birthed us.

Our only hope is reconnection, an exponential raising of human consciousness—especially that of government leaders—from our heart (not head) chakra. What we need is Metanoia—a fundamental and profound conversion of the human heart; a humble and contrite admission of what has failed, coupled with a wholehearted consideration of what now needs to unfold.

Our hearts, in essence, need to be ravished with love for our earthly home and with a deep compassion and reverence for all life—human, animal, and plant. We need to restore our sense of communion and inter-dependence. We belong to the heartbeat of creation; we are the natural rhythm of life itself, its evolutionary impulse. Failure to restore this primeval kinship with the earth—or to inspire it in the hearts of our elected leadership—could, in the end, be cataclysmic.

The earth is a living, breathing, conscious organism. I’m not concerned about its survival. It has cleansed and restored itself before and will do so again, if necessary. But this time around, we may have gone too far. Such a deep planetary ablution may necessarily herald our demise.

Chapter 12 ‘Batten Down The Hatches‘

Listening to the heartbeat of creation, and paying contemplative attention to the community of interdependent beings we share this planet with, is as important as the oxygen every cell of our body needs for life.

I’m a believer in humanity’s wherewithal to grow up, be responsible and accountable, and lead the way out of the pitfalls many of us have fallen into.

When Abingdon’s Time Capsule is opened in 2078, I pray that it will be on a gloriously crisp, sunny morning filled with birdsong, flitting insects, and uncontaminated hearts, minds and human consciousness . . a living memorial of what I know we can become.

What say you?

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