April 16, 2001
"I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive."
Joseph
Campbell
Today I experienced the
“rapture of being alive” that Joseph Campbell spoke about in his comments
above. The word rapture is as
strong as any in the English language. In
my version of Webster’s Dictionary it is defined as “a state or experience
of being carried away by overwhelming emotion”.
What a word!
Our daughter came home from
college this weekend to be with us for the Easter holiday.
It is rare for us to go to church as a family these days as our children
are growing older. But today, after herding the group into the car to beat the
Easter church rush, we made it with five minutes to spare.
When my heart stopped racing
from looking at the clock and waiting for my turn to go through too many
stoplights, I found the family together in our normal pew, but slightly to the
left of our usual seats. I looked
around and saw many smiling faces and other families who were enjoying the sense
of togetherness that we yearn for.
After an interpretive dance and reading depicting the
meaning of Easter, the brass ensemble sounded the prelude to my favorite Easter
hymn and seconds later I was singing enthusiastically the familiar words.
During the second verse I began to look to my left at our children, to my
right at my wife, and at the familiar but somehow luminous front of the church.
My voice suddenly no longer worked and I felt tears forming in my eyes
and I felt the rapture of being alive.
This was not a moment of
epiphany or what is known as a kairos moment (ultimate moments for universal
good; a moment whose time is meant to come; an “a ha” moment).
It was simply a realization that I was alive: alive in the moment both
physically and spiritually.
I have had these moments before
and I know I will have them again. They
are not moments you can seek or manufacture.
But I do think you might be able to control the frequency they manifest
by how you live each day. Begin
with taking nothing for granted and becoming thankful for the blessings of each
day. Recognize the miracle of our
humanness even when things aren’t going the way you wish they would.
Be “in the moment” at least once a day.
Marvel at the little things that you see, hear, or touch. Finally, be
amazed and in awe that you are the only one at any given moment who gets to
experience the world just as it is through your eyes and feel it in your soul.
With respect, acceptance, and
love,
Richard