“Where’s the Wonder?” It strikes me that there is a space, a place, a sense deep within all of us that is filled with quietude and peace. It’s the kind of place that lacks flashing neon signs to attract you there, but it is still there all the same. It strikes me that it is this place of quietude that opens the inner eye to behold beauty, that inspires us to seek possibility, and teaches us to love the vitality of life. Without this inner space our lives would be nothing but toil and burden. Our living would be without passion or light or inspiration. The Celtic poet John O’Donohue suggests that it is this inner place of quietude and light that enables us to recognize and receive our very presence here as a blessing. It is this place of inner quietude that inspires the joy of being that is naturally expressed in the smile and the laugh.. I don't know how familiar you are with his original writings, but I’ve always loved the illogic and whimsicalness of Lewis Carol. His Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are treasure troves of insightful quips, puns, whimsy, and illogical conundrums. He says, " It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards." "No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise." "Which form of proverb do you prefer ‘better late than never, or better never than late?’" 'But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.' "When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'" "Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle." In the last couple of weeks we've watched a couple recent movies. First we watched "Avatar" the almost three hour extravaganza of futuristic special effects. The visuals in the movie were truly amazing, and I’m sure that if you were in the theatre and watching with 3-d glasses that it was even more amazing. There was obviously creative genius behind the creation of the cinema. But still when we were finished, my response was, "What a waste! Yet another Hollywood monument to the myth of redemptive violence." I don't know if you're familiar with the notion of "redemptive violence." It a concept popularized by theologian Walter Wink a number of years ago and refers the operating story or myth of western culture that in order to redeem or save the world the only way to overcome the forces of violence and evil is with forces of greater violence. This is the story. Of all our popular hero stories-the forces of good are beset by the forces of evil (read that Indians, aliens, Nazis, communists, whoever) and they are only rescued when the hero (John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dirty Harry, Popeye, or fill in the blank)-when the hero steps onto the scene and conquers the bad actors with superior fire power-a faster draw of the six-gun, a more clever trap, the arrival of the Calvary, whatever. When I finished watching Alice in Wonderland my inner response was, “What a shame—they’ve turned Alice into Lord of the Rings! Or I guess it could have been Avatar, or The Magnificent Seven, or Die Hard or High Noon or Spartacus or whatever. It’s obviously true that our culture is enamored with violence, but I don’t think wink goes deep enough when he talks about the myth of redemptive violence. I’m thinking that talking like that is too “heady”—it doesn’t reach the heart of the matter. I wonder, “Why do we take whimsy and turn it into ‘Dirty Harry’?” I can’t help but think that we’ve lost our way in a forest of words. Words take us into the head. As O’Donohue suggests, “What is nearest the heart is often farthest from the word.” Words split and parse and discern and separate and distinguish, whereas the heart perceives and experiences from a different point of view. The heart is more willing to embrace and unify and let things be as they are. The heart is willing to let the day be sufficient unto itself—to recognize it as gift and blessing. Perhaps what we’ve lost is our ability to let the heart imagine. The movies Avatar and Alice in Wonderland were certainly imaginative in terms of the mind, but in terms of the heart they were lackluster and as dreary as an open pit coal mine in a high mountain meadow. Most of us aware of Marianne Williamson’s quote that says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” I’ve always liked it, and yet now I wonder if it too doesn’t go deep enough. Perhaps what we our minds fear most is that place of quietude within the heart. If we allow ourselves to rest in that place of quietude—that place that brings a smile to the soul, then perhaps the mind fears it will cease to be. If we aren’t active, if we aren’t doing, then we must ask with Alice, “Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle." When we want to know how we look we go look in a mirror so we can see if our buttons are right, our hair is combed, and all of that. Perhaps one way to begin awakening the imagination of the heart is to look into the mirror of the soul. As we inquire of the heart, we begin to know those pieces of ourselves that we so often hide from—we begin to direct our awareness away from the clattering of the mind toward the places of quietude and kindness. At the end of our day, at the beginning of our day, at the end of our week we might look and listen and inquire: To whom have I shown kindness this day or week? How have I been kind to myself? Where have I allowed myself to dream? How has my heart grown this day or week? When have I allowed the quietude of my heart to be known in my being? What differences have I noticed in those closest to me? Whom have I neglected? (Including myself) What has touched me this week or this day? How have I allowed it to impact me? Who have I allowed to see me? And this one from John O’Donohue, “From the evidence—why was I given today.” Your purpose is to manifest the glory of the gift that you are. Truly there’s nothing to fear by letting your heart shine. Indulge yourself in the imaginings of your heart. Let your quietude inform your living and let your kindness inspire your action. Peace and blessings. |