Don't we all get a huge kick out of the jaw dropping, mind blowing, no shit! experience of coming across something that is awesome? This has to be such an individual thing, the trigger for these moments. It definitely has to magically catch us at the right time and the right place.
As you remember your experiences, I will tell a few of mine. I am a lucky woman in that quite a lot of things blow my mind. The people who study brain chemistry might have a good explanation for this but can they show us how the process gets rolling? I mean, it is like labor in childbirth. We know a lot about the hormones involved. We certainly know the process, but I have yet to hear anyone with a clear understanding of what actually triggers the start of the labor. Is it the alignment of the stars after all? Does science begin when spiritual science lets off? Just wondering.
What got me onto this subject today was my experience at church this morning. I have been going to a little Catholic church in Larkspur, CA. I was drawn to it because it looked a little more New England than many of the West Coast churches. Then I found the bonus of the wonderful Father Lawrence. Enough said. Today's mass was nice. It was friendly. There were tons of people especially with young families. It was mundane. That's what got me thinking about the several times in my life when going to church has been awesome.
They were pretty big events. The first time I went to what used to be called High Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. High mass when I was a kid was Gregorian chants, tons of frankincense incense, elaborate vestments , big flowers, the whole nine yards. I was struck silent. The mass at Campostella at the end of the Camino was awesome. It was not only big in every way...thousands of people, dozens of priests, all the mumbo jumbo anyone could wish for but everyone there was not only giving a huge collective exhale but I have never felt such a collective gratitude. (Must have been that on a gigantic scale when WW11 ended. I was too young to remember.) We had made it. Whatever 'it' was.
I have felt awe at a few concerts. Hearing Pablo Casals play cello, hearing Miha Pogacnik play violin, these were big experiences for me. Seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time at sunset with the setting sun's rays coming through the waves. Oh my God!
At High Mowing School on a freezing mountain top in New Hampshire, I was pregnant with my third child. Samuel Kaymen was our resident farmer. (He and his family later started Stoneyfield Yoghurt). Samuel sent someone to fetch us when a horse of his was starting labor. Watching this horse foul was unbelievably awesome to me. When I lose the ability to speak, it is a big deal. I hope many of you have a chance to see such power in your lifetime.
The mother horse paced. She went around in circles. She shuddered a few times. I thought we were in for the long haul. Not so. She calmed down and focused (no kidding!). Then she kind of groaned a few times. Then her muscles tensed. Then steam rose from her body. I mean enough to fill a steam room. She didn't move her hoofs. She pushed. Out slid this perfectly gorgeous foul fully in the caul, The steam stopped and she looked happy and normal and we were all speechless. I don't know, I have seen many women give birth, the usual dogs and cats and pigs, eggs hatch, but there it was, the birth that blew my mind.
I hope everyone gets a lot of these moments. I would feel bereft if I couldn't feel awe.
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