Startling Intensity

"There can be occasions when we suddenly and

involuntarily find ourselves loving the natural

world  with a  startling intensity,   in a burst of 

 which we may not fully understand, 

and the only word that seem to me to be 

appropriate for this feeling is joy."

Michael McCarthy

Spontaneous gifts surround us, but the chaos of life propels us forward as though we were capsulized in a speeding bullet.  If we would slow down, lift our attention, by passing our immediate surroundings, we may catch a glimpse of wonderment.  It can be anywhere from a mother hugging a small child, a hawk gracefully gliding in the sky, or a glimpse into another dimension.

One night, as a young child riding in the back seat of a car, I was watching the world fly by through the window.  The car slowed down, so I noticed a small window up in a peak of the roof line of a bungalow.   There was light streaming out and I could see a gray haired woman with her hair up in a bun.  She appeared to be rocking in a chair, but the movement too fast as though the rocker was motorized. My mind could not adjust to what I saw.  

When we see things out of the ordinary, our mind does not always process what appears to be abnormal.  We try to impose the oddity onto patterns of our reality, to make sense of it  and put us at ease. There are times, however, that a moment is experienced and stays contained like a caption hovering over a cartoon character.