Saturday, January 30, 2010

Hounded by Heaven; the first in a series of retold transcendent experiences


Lorraine V. Murray, in her book Confessions of An Ex-Feminist  recounts a memorable experience she had while spending time with her husband in Cedar Key, Florida.  Anchored out in the gulf on a small boat, they suddenly heard a loud splash and saw the heads of two manatees pop out of the water.  The manatees peered at them before disappearing underwater again.  "The atheist in the boat," Murray writes, "stunned by their eyes, which seemed so deeply innocent and mysterious, now uttered a rather strange statement: 'It was like looking into the face of God!'"  Later she would write in her journal that she believed she'd gotten a glimpse of God's face here on earth.


13 comments:

Leslie Morgan said...

GJ, I thank you once again for putting in terms I can understand. For me, it was in the Pacific, many times, and the "angel" was a whale or a dolphin alongside the boat looking up at me. That's just semantics. I didn't know it was transcendental. I just thought it was "boat magic". I am pleased to be enlightened.

The India Arie was wonderful with morning coffee.

rraine said...

some days, words fail me, so i rely on the words of others.

to see a world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour.
-william blake

Unknown said...

Has the India Arie Clip been there for awhile and I just didn't notice? What a lovely song. And the the thunderstorm from on high. We live in a world, no a universe of marvels. Yet it's so easy to get lost in the details of the day. I grok the manatees. Nice to hear from from you GJ.

Garlandless Judy said...

Limes, putting this kind of experience in terms that are understandable I think is the big dilemma about naming and defining God. It's not my business to tell you what God is to you, but it sure does help when our friends have and insights that make life more pleasant to live.

standing, that's a great Blake poem. It really cuts to the essence of what I'm experiencing lately.

Tag, I'm not sure how long the India Arie clip has been there. I put it up after the God through a microscope post. Oh yes, yes, I grok and marvel at all these things too.

rraine said...

gj-that's the first verse. here's the last:
god appears, and god is light,
to those poor souls who dwell in night,
but does a human form display
to those who dwell in realms of day.

(i don't much like the rest of the poem!)

Garlandless Judy said...

standing, I think the rest of the world is with you on that one. The grain of sand stanza is most often quoted. I love the idea of light. How do we keep the switch turned on once we let in the light? It's like trying to hold onto water. But I guess that's the point. If we grasp too tightly, it slips through our fingers, but if we hold it gently, it stays (at least for as long as we need to drink from our palms).

rraine said...

ah, light. my favorite topic!
at an excruciatingly slow pace, i am making my way through a book called "the field" by lynn mctaggart. while reading this, i finally, finally, completely and utterly "got" that we are light. not in some airy fairy, woo woo way, but in a quantitatively measurable way.
we don't have to keep it switched on. we are it.

Garlandless Judy said...

standing, I love that book. I read it several years ago. I love the idea of consciousness resulting from super-radiance - individual quantum particles like photons losing their individuality and beginning to act as a single unit. Reality being created by our attention. It's mind-blowing. I've read tons of stuff along these lines, but until I actually EXPERIENCED what it is to be full of...I guess it's light, it didn't really make sense. Now it does. Like she says, it's a matter of ATTENTION.

Unknown said...

This place where physics and consciousness meet spirituality is where I like to hang out. I've heard someone say its where our physical selves resonate to the harmonic of the universe's major chord. I don't know about all that, but I sense that the music of the heavens resonates within us as we meditate, or put our attention to the eternal.

Gabriela Abalo said...

"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive". ~Eleonora Duse

Garlandless Judy said...

Tag, I love this idea of the harmonics of the Universe. this is why Super String Theory appeals to me: the notion that the universe, God, love, everything that is beautiful, is all the same wonderful symphony.

Gabriela Abalo - That is a very beautiful quote. I've never heard of Eleonora Duse. I will have to look her up. Thanks for landing on my site.

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