Soul Quotient
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I went out for the newspaper at the usual time this morning, shortly after 5AM, (yes, I'm one of the "odd few" who still enjoys the crisp feel of a morning paper in my hands), and while it's now light that time of day, (and my plaid sleep pants not conveniently hidden under the cover of night), I adore the quiet and the peaceful mood, and this morning the air was INCREDIBLE ...
Every-so-often in my little town, not far from some of the best beaches on the east coast, the primary weather winds blow OFF the ocean and carry far inland ... this morning was just such an occasion, so the warming air was heavy and damp, but plump with the delightful aromas of the sea, briny and scintillating and sublime ...
Unusually, I remained out there in the bird-broken silence a long time, just inhaling that amazing breath of the Atlantic, and looking up at the (coming summer) sky, with Taurus scraping hooves on the eastern horizon, Capricorn and Saturn in the south, and the Big Bear running the northern reach, as if headed for a run-in with the bull ...
I stood there thinking what a horrendous catastrophe it seemed - an immense tragedy, really, that there is so much out THERE in this incredible maelstrom of a universe, so many unimaginable wonders and spectacles, that no eyes will ever see - that no intelligent creature will EVER behold or appreciate or dream on, that no artist will ever paint, no poet ever put to parchment ...
But I thought also, on what a unique and personal miracle it was, what a marvel it all would STILL BE, if I was the only sentient creature to ever behold the heavens so, or the only thing to ever inhale that glorious breeze - that salt-kissed waft of the ocean that reaches so deep into my being and revives my senses. In that precious moment, I might well have been ...
There is SO much darkness in this expansive world - so much that is painful and evil and horrendous, often beyond our rational comprehension, but just like that incredible expanse above us, that truly limitless swath of blackness and dark matter, if we look close enough and long enough and deep enough, the darkness is saturated with light and portent ...
The depth and press of darkness - that seemingly boundless space between the stars - only serves to make the light, that sea of suns, even more glorious and grand! The trials and struggles and pains in our lives are all CRUCIAL, because without them, all those amazingly invaluable moments of love and joy and appreciation, would be empty and pointless ...
We are blessed with and by ALL of it, the pain and the pleasure, the struggle and the ease, the heartache and the joy, the shimmering light AND the delirious dark - ALL of it - and the mere fact that we are alive to FEEL it completely, good and bad and everything in-between, is a priceless, precious, miraculous GIFT, a blessing that births all other blessings ...
This all washed over me in a wave of realization, and though I'm sure it startled the few other creatures awake then, I gazed up at that expanse, breathed in that amazing air, and said a very vocal "thank you" to the Universe, to whatever or whoever oversees or created this whole marvelously ordered masterpiece of wonder ... "thank you" for the astonishing opportunity I've been given, to just BE ...
And "thank you" for having been gifted with the heart and temperament to appreciate it, good AND bad - ALL of it - the eyes and senses to behold it, and the insight to express it to others in language and poetry and music. I think, though I'm not completely certain, (and perhaps it was my child's heart that made it so), that I heard the Great Expanse whisper back to me ... "You're welcome," it said ... "that's what life is about ... THAT is why you're here" ...
And then it occurred to me that there might be even more to it than that, that I was placed there with that moment and epiphany, in order to write about it now, and express what even the heavens can NOT. So perhaps, if you think of it, try to say "thank you" today, even if just to yourself, for ALL of it, for the whole "kit-and-caboodle", the up AND down, the good AND bad ...
For the positive AND negative, light AND dark, and the crucial need we have for BOTH sides of everything, even death, for it is the element that gives life its worth ... yes, thankful, to keep the Universe and our precious lives in proper perspective and balance ... to give our spirits the latitude and depth for appreciation, to sharpen the vital edge of our id - the quotient of our soul ...
You just never know ... what may come of it.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Soul IQ" Poetry Contest, Chantelle Anne Cooke, Judge & Sponsor.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden | Year Posted 2019
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