Being a mystic, it is very easy for me to have spontaneous shifts of consciousness that pull me into a broader perspective. From that viewpoint – the crow’s-eye view, which is my blog’s official name – I am able to appreciate the multiple dimensions and parts that comprise each aspect of life.
I talked about this a bit in my blog post Awe and Wonder 101 almost exactly a year ago. Perhaps the late fall’s hints of the coming quietude of winter’s deep sleep cycle put me into an even more contemplative state than usual.
This is also the time of year when the veil is thin between the worlds as well as the start of the holiday season, traditionally a time to connect with family, so I feel particularly aware of the physical absence of departed members of my family of origin. This puts me squarely in the appreciation (and awe and wonder) of the life cycle, nature’s as well as my own.
The multiple strands of an individual’s inner and outer life, the new interweaving with the old, become a coat of many colors more rich and complex with each turning of the wheel. As I quickly approach 60 years of age, I make a point of daily appreciating the life that I have lived. I feel incredibly loving and tender toward my younger, developing self. I feel profound gratitude for all the people who have graced my life and assisted me in the art of self-knowing and self-acceptance (in short, every person, positive or negative in his or her influence has brought me closer to the essence of who I am).
When I am out and about, I sometimes look at other human beings and contemplate the richness of their life experiences, unknown to me, and the beauty of their coats of many colors. Rich or poor, healthy or sick, young or old or something in between, givers or sociopaths, all people, no matter what scale we use to determine the quality or value of their lives, are miracles.
I happen to side with the quantum and theoretical physicists who have determined the likelihood that linear time is an illusion (ask me or any mystic about those states we find ourselves in where we perceive past, present, and future as having melded into one) and that there are multiverses (vs. a single universe) where copies or variations of ourselves are living parallel lives. It makes me realize that judging any person or their life (or death) situation as tragic, futile, a waste, etc. could not be farther from the truth. This realization brings me great peace, especially when I’m veering toward anxiety in trying to manage time and the details of daily living or tempted to collapse into despair at all the madness and suffering on the planet.
So, I’m looking forward to this most contemplative time of the year as its energy grows with the shortening days. I guess that puts me in the minority (and I have great compassion for all of you who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder), but, hey, I’m used to that status and I wouldn’t change myself for the world.
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"Loved this reflection, Phoebe.. Thanks for sharing it."
"Loved this reflection, Phoebe.. Thanks for sharing it."