"Kairos. Real time. God's time. That time which breaks through chronos with a shock of joy, that time we do not recognize while we are experiencing it, but only afterwards, because kairos has nothing to do with chronological time... In Our Town, after Emily has died in childbirth, Thornton Wilder has her ask the Stage Manager if she can re-turn home to relive just one day. Reluctantly he allows her to do so. And she is torn by the beauty of the ordinary, and by our lack of awareness of it. She cries out to her mother, 'Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me... it goes so fast we don't have time to look at one another.' And she goes back to the graveyard and the quiet company of the others lying there, and she asks the Stage Manager 'Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?' And he sighs and says, 'No. The saints and poets, maybe. They do some.'... If we are to be aware of life while we are living it, we must have the courage to relinquish our hard-earned control of ourselves. Because our reflexes have been conditioned as thoroughly as those of Pavlov's dog, this is never easy. But reflexes can be unlearned, or reconditioned."
Walking on Water Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle in The Almanac for the Soul on May 20th- curated by Marv and Nancy Hiles pg. 220
Invitation: “… the beauty of the ordinary ...”
More about Madeleine L'Engle at this LINK and her body of work at this LINK
We will meet for the Community Table Tuesday, May 27th at 4:30 PM ET. Contact us for information HERE.
Learn More About Circles of Courageous Commons HERE
Oh, to realize
life while we are living it!
What if we all could?
This statement caught my attention and my heart. "She is torn by the beauty of the ordinary, and by our lack of awareness of it." ~ Madeleine L'Engle.
To be in the present moment as Buddhism offers to us seems to be a key to becoming more aware of the beauty of the ordinary. Another key is recognizing "what is enough" in a materialistic, capitalist driven society. To be not only satisfied with "enough," moreover to be grateful for the "enough," the ordinary in our lives.
Pat and Jean, I love the photo of your family in your kitchen... the adults, kids, and dogs... the gifts of the ordinary.