Edward Hays ~ Author, Artist & Storyteller
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Awesome Dawn

6/10/2015

 

Awesome Dawn


Dear old and new friends, 

                                                       Spiritual Principle:

          Strive to experience God in different places and at different times in our lives.

     Dawn, the first appearance of light in the morning (from Middle English daunen--meaning "daybreak") for those awake at that hour is usually greeted with more of a yawn than awe. Our daystar's yellow orb appears to us earthlings as small viewed at its great distance from us, yet is so gigantic it could contain one million earths! Behind its golden beauty is hidden a gargantuan nuclear exploding sky-furnace of around 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit emitting more energy in one single second than humans have used in all of history. However, it doesn't cause us to have goose bumps!

     Goose bumps are the body's reaction in which the muscles around our hair follicles contract when we are faced with what is fearful or causes awe. An experience of awe unfortunately we associate with mystics, which we are not. We encounter the common in our daily lives not the supernatural! The word "awesome" today is commonly used, especially by the young. Just the other day a waitress said it to me when I told her I thought my pizza was delicious. Psychologists say of us that are awe-deprived. This unique poverty causes the diminishment of humanity as people become more individualistic with restricted identities, divorced from others, and blind to beauty.

     Awe is associated with worship, as when Isaiah in the temple beholds God's splendor being encircled by flaming-winged angels exclaiming, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. All the heaven is filled with his glory!" Their awesome proclamation is well known to those familiar with hearing it as a chant in the Roman Liturgy of the Mass. Was this awe-inspiring vision originally placed in the Liturgy as a call to those attending to feel a sense of awe at what was about to happen, instead of as a signal to kneel down? Besides worship, awe is created by dancing, music, art and small and large group-uniting rituals and the most common events of life…for those with eyes to see.

     All of us need to develop a hunger and taste for awe, even for societal reasons! Recent studies have shown those who frequently experience wonder or awe are more socially involved, active in promoting justice and equality, more generous to public programs and aid to the less fortunate! To build up awe and wonder, first desire to experience the awesome and practice simple, short rituals such as:

        At your first sip of your morning coffee say, "Awesome," and then pause to truly savor           the invigorating brew of your coffee.

        Looking upon a lake or ocean, or looking up at the night sky crowded with the vastness           of stars and unseen but existing galaxies, say, "Awesome," then allow that feeling to             make you smaller, more humble and in communion with all that exists.

        You are in a hurry and have a green light, say, "Awesome," then be grateful that this             traffic light will help you be on time for your appointment.

        After a good bowel movement or relief of a headache, say "Awesome," then rejoice and         be grateful that you are experiencing God in natural and healing ways in your life.

     The Islamic mystics teach that the saying, "Aa-ah," after anything sensually delightful is actually pronouncing another one of God's holy names! However, “Ah" and "Awesome" are Siamese Twin words joined at the hip, ecstatic outbursts of utter delight at being in the Presence of the Source of Wonder, even if you don't have any goose bumps.

Who Are You?

7/16/2014

 

Who Are You?


Dear old and new friends,

    The primal source of religious worship is awe and wonder. Picture one of your prehistoric ancestors kneeling in awestruck worship as a gigantic lightning bolt splinters the night sky followed by thunder’s deafening roar. Or another ancient ancestor spellbound in astonishment as inexplicably his first infant appears out of his wife’s body. Temples and priesthoods follow later with sacred laws and ritual appeasement of the gods giving religion a new source not of wonder but fear!

    As humans we seem to have an embedded need to be religious, to experience the wonder-full. Yet today’s world of escalating electronic miracles leaves little if any room for us to be awestruck. Earth’s orbiting gigantic telescopes peer backwards in time to send us full color pictures of stars being birthed in the splendor of ten thousand sunrises…interesting, even beautiful, but yet not awakening real wonder. Or consider what you’re doing at this moment, my unknown and known friends in Arizona, Montana and Virginia or elsewhere on this planet, reading a reflection on wonder electronically written in Kansas. Yet, this space-time-traveling marvel along with e-mail and Skype doesn’t cause us to kneel gape-mouthed in awe before our computers for we are wonder-immune.

    To rekindle wonder, begin by taking small steps, and step one is to read this slowly:

                “You are the sum of everything you’ve ever seen, heard,
                        eaten, smelled, been told, forgot—it’s all there.”

    American poetess Maya Angelou’s words call you to be overwhelmed by the mystery of who you are. They call you to stretch your imagination to the absolute ultimate limits to conceive that every single sight you have ever seen since birth is a partial answer to your identity! Astonishingly, absolutely nothing you’ve ever experienced is lost or forgotten, everything you’ve ever tasted, smelled or heard is all still within you—and is you! Each victory or defeat, every sensual pleasure and agonizing pain, every act of love and friendship has become forever the bafflingly, inexplicable mysterious you!

    When drifting in the misty shrouded frontiers of sleep all at once a long forgotten event appears before me in all its vibrant colors and sensations like a swirling red golden leaf in the stream of consciousness. Surfacing to half-consciousness, briefly I’ve asked, “From where did that forgotten old memory come?” Now I know; it and other day or night remembrances are but the tip of the iceberg, an infinitesimal tiny fraction of the thousands of billions of permanently implanted memorable elements that make us the sum total of who we are.

    To awaken wonder and original religion, memorize Mary Angelou’s fantastically wonderizing words in order to repeat them upon seeing yourself in a mirror.


    Edward Hays


    Picture
    Haysian haphazard thoughts on the
    invisible and visible mysteries of life.

    Picture

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