It was a fairly simple moment Friday evening, as I parked my car in my usual curb parking spot, and felt the need to sit still in the front seat...just stop and be still. I wasn't really meditating, but I've been a meditator for so long, that just sitting "on pause" for a moment sparks a meditation connection. I looked down the tree lined street that brought shade while the Heat Wave--or Southern California's share of it--scorches the country. These trees arch high above the electrical wires; curved branches on the south-side meet mirroring branches on the north side, while dropping purple blossoms in a slight breeze. They give peaceful shelter for birds, squirrels, raccoons, lizards, tiny life forms, insects. There is shade for larger animals too, beyond the many dogs (on daily walks with their people friends) and even shade for bears, an occasional mountain lion, or a lean wolf down from the mountain, looking for food. This Friday evening the angle of the sun sprinkled rays of golden light across the clumps of branches. What a view! And for a moment, I was keenly aware of the act of Seeing.
Maybe it was because my eye doctor had recently changed the prescription on my contact lenses, or maybe it was the contrast of the brutal heat lifting when I turned the corner to my shady street, but I was flooded with the sense of sight. What an amazing thing: Seeing. We know that not everyone has sight or full sight. Aging, along with all sorts of life events can dim or damage sight, but I was struck with the sheer wonder that sight exists at all, let alone the addition of our other senses. It is the composite of those other senses that compensate should others fail. As I sat in the car, I shifted briefly to an awareness of evening bird song....listening...but was pulled back to the view. This encounter was really about watching.
Yet, there is a paradox here when we talk of human beings belonging to, or immersed in, the world of nature and the Allness of life, because to 'see' in this way is a distancing of immersion. I remembered a lady from the earlier years of Hillside Church who told me about a sudden realization she had as she prayed for understanding of her spiritual life and her role in it all. An inner voice answered that she was a "witness". This brought her peace. Sitting in the car, I agreed; I was witnessing the Wonder, but I also was witnessing my capacity to see. This is a point of separation. To see is seemingly separation. The tree has become an object; the self, I, "stand" outside the tree, witnessing that Wonder. I thought of the Biblical quote in Genesis 1:31, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." And yet God, the Transcendent, is both Creator and Created. Confounded, our logic moves to separate. Sitting in the car after a day of dust and heat, then the play of light and shadow, coolness of shade and shade as shelter, I saw the Beauty of it all. A tiny part of me in some unfathomable aspect of Divine Vision, rests in All, God, seeing through my eyes, naming it Good and very Good. Today is a day to trust your outer vision. Look. Simply Look. (Susan Nettleton)
For poetry: https://poeteecummings.weebly.com/i-thank-you-godpoem.html
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../HowtoSeeaDee/index.html
https://www.yogawithsusana.com/post/the-ponds-by-mary-oliver