Think back a ways, maybe several years. What were the
moments that caused you to rethink something? Or gave you a totally new view of
the world, or nation, or life….or you fill in the blank!
For me I can think of several moments. With more thought I
no doubt could come up with a longer list. But let’s just look at these for
now.
- Sputnik
successfully orbits Earth; Russia
beats America
to space
- Birth
of my daughter; and son
- Berlin
Wall erected; sobering Cold War symbol
- Boston
Symphony concerts at Tanglewood during the late 1950’s
- Summer
Stock theater in the Berkshires, also in the late 1950’s
- Grand Canyon; several times visiting over several
decades
- Sitting
in the alone quiet of the Mojave Desert,
late 1940’s
- Removal
of Berlin
Wall
At first glance this may be an odd list. For instance what
is missing? The usual guideposts of life: graduation from several levels of
education; marriage; divorce; sexuality issues and moments of discovery; career
achievements; enrolling at the seminary; so many things that can be on the
list, but these, as important as they are in my life, are not the immediate
items that came to mind. Interesting.
Perhaps the list would change if I had written it yesterday,
or tomorrow? Situational stimuli do make a difference, surely. But let’s work
with the eight items on the list.
- Sputnik
gave me and America
a wake up call. We were not alone in the world. There was also the vast
space beckoning for exploration. This was an awakening to intellectual thinking
and technological skill. If a rival nation could beat us at this, then
what were we doing wrong? Where was our talent? Where was our sense of
excellence? What unknown frontiers were we ignoring? What was missing? Yes, Sputnik was an important happening
in our history. It meant a lot to our national sense of self; but it also alerted
us to the inner self where we dreamed, learned, understood, and grew. What was
my challenge? What would I become? What was I willing to work at or give up in
order to become a more fulfilled person? I thought that way back then as a
teenager. For me it was a serious time. I came to view the world broadly,
expansively, intellectually, personally.
- Birth
of both of my kids. Very personal time. Shared of course with my wife Ann,
but still a very personal moment. Bringing new life into being. Having a
different person dependent on your efforts to support a life and its
development. Nurturing. Developing. Caring for. Making room for in my
life. Adding to my universe. The rewards, challenges; the good and bad;
the ups and downs. The successes built on years of doing. Brilliant
really. Precious in many personal moments.
- Berlin
Wall represented a sobering reality; we had national enemies. Stark and
cold. Seemingly impenetrable and unfeeling. Childish behavior; world peace
rests on such small minded moments? This was the time of my freshman year
in college. I was studying the world formally. I was trying to find my
place in it. For the long term. And yet at the beginning of this phase,
the Berlin Wall. Stultifying. Stupid. Crass. It cautioned my thinking.
This was a reality we needed to contend with.
- Teenage
years in western Massachusetts.
Tanglewood – summer home of the Boston Symphony – practically in our
backyard. My folks and I attended concerts throughout the summer. And
small ensemble concerts as well. The unfolding of large, complex music.
Music in the mind and soul. Personhood developing. Emotions swelling, with
the music, in juxtaposition to it; the inner life; intellectual awakenings.
Surging. Presenting themselves to me in an ever rolling manner; for years.
Still goes on. Stunning beautiful addition to my being. Music. Serious and
complex. Simple threads of melody emerging; tempos echoing their pulse.
Special experiences.
- Western
Massachusetts contains the Berkshire
Mountains. Pittsfield is the
county seat. It is home to so much history of the nation, but also the
seat of much culture. Jacob Pillow Dance Theater, Tanglewood, South
Mountain Music Festival, summer stock theater throughout the region.
College and university campuses seemingly everywhere. Historic markers
from the 1600’s and 1700’s. Depth of roots. Depth of soul. Music, theater,
art. The inner person struggling to speak, to feel, to be. Summer stock theater saw visiting
stars and lesser known players presenting drama in intimate spaces. The
characters vying on stage as parallel to personal drama on the inner stage of
the mind. It awakened feelings, emotions, deep and broad. The agenda building
of a life. Trying to understand it; making it work for me; as model?
- Vastness
of space on Earth – The Grand Canyon. I visited it as a small youth; again
many times at different times of my life. Adolescent, teenager, young
adult, middle adult, late adult. Each time seminal. Each time reminding me
of the vastness of life and the intricacies of being a person on the
planet. It is simple, yet very complex. The silence of the Grand Canyon. The huge space; long vistas; depth of
the canyon’s one mile chasm. The enormity of it all. The smallness of me.
Yet the relativity. Profound moments of seeing and feeling and thinking.
Pondering. Good stuff!
- Related
to the Grand Canyon – living on the Mojave Desert
as a very young child. Still I remember outings with the family. They
would hike off to various viewpoints. We’d drive off road to very lonely
spots. Some were vast vistas of flat open land. Starkly plain. Others were
huge rock outcroppings; with deep chasms. I remember sitting in one of the
latter areas; family members were off a short distance. I couldn’t see
them, but I could hear their occasional voicings. For me: silence;
stillness. Let me state that again: STILLNESS, profound, enormous. Blue
sky above. An occasional bird but very few. Some twiggy low plants
wavering in the breeze. The sough of the wind-breeze; constant, a caress
of dry warm air on bare legs and arms. Warmth. No snakes, but I watched
for them! No water. Alone. Solitude. A basic sense of nothingness but
‘everythingness.’ And the beginning of a sense of self in this aloneness.
Secure yet insecure. Interesting dichotomy.
- Tearing
down the Berlin Wall stated the world was ready for working together,
collaborating on life into the future. An international maturity marker
had been made. For all to see. We could move on now. With caution, but we
could contemplate a future that contained more of everyone. Inclusive.
Expansive.
You see what I mean. Moments in our lives that gift us with
special insight? Change our life? Make us uniquely us, each and every one.
What moments are yours?
April 4, 2012
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