Seashore
05-07-2009, 11:29 PM
This is a chapter head in the book Will & Spirit; A Contemplative Psychology by Gerald G. May, M.D.
I just read a paragraph in this chapter that made me think, "Wow." It is an event that happened to a corporate lawyer and was told as an anecdote to the author.
Here it is:
"I was on vacation in the mountains. Two friends and I hiked most of the morning and we were very tired. I lay down by a tree stump and slept. When I awoke it was late afternoon and everything had become quiet. The crickets and cicadas had silenced their chirping, and even the breeze stopped. All I can say is that moment was an eternity, and it was the moment of my birth. I was forty-five years old, but in those few minutes I was born. I had no thought at the time--everything was just there. I had no reaction except for a deep quiet and peace. This is hard for me to say, but at some point I remember thinking 'There is a God, there is a God.' And my life hasn't been the same since then. I still practice law, and I keep the same friends. I still worry about money and politics. I still snap at my wife when I've had a hard day, but I'm different. Somewhere deep down something has changed. Now I look for God--I seek the wonder of life, and while I appreciate being here on the face of this earth more than ever before, I also fear death less. I sit alone sometimes, and now and then I enter that moment again."
Has anyone had a similar experience?
I just read a paragraph in this chapter that made me think, "Wow." It is an event that happened to a corporate lawyer and was told as an anecdote to the author.
Here it is:
"I was on vacation in the mountains. Two friends and I hiked most of the morning and we were very tired. I lay down by a tree stump and slept. When I awoke it was late afternoon and everything had become quiet. The crickets and cicadas had silenced their chirping, and even the breeze stopped. All I can say is that moment was an eternity, and it was the moment of my birth. I was forty-five years old, but in those few minutes I was born. I had no thought at the time--everything was just there. I had no reaction except for a deep quiet and peace. This is hard for me to say, but at some point I remember thinking 'There is a God, there is a God.' And my life hasn't been the same since then. I still practice law, and I keep the same friends. I still worry about money and politics. I still snap at my wife when I've had a hard day, but I'm different. Somewhere deep down something has changed. Now I look for God--I seek the wonder of life, and while I appreciate being here on the face of this earth more than ever before, I also fear death less. I sit alone sometimes, and now and then I enter that moment again."
Has anyone had a similar experience?