I looked up early this morning at the still nighting sky.
The stars were stunning.
I was reminded that they always are and that the only thing that really changes is my perception of them. They're sitting there all the time; shining or doing their thing (whatever that is).
Invariably now, when I put myself in a position to see them and then contemplate their significance, my thoughts drift towards…love. Is that cultural conditioning? Or, is that something innately existential? Many have debated the question over time. So, if nothing else, I'm not the first to wonder about it (not to mention what really changes whatever I end up concluding?).
Something (Someone?) put such things in place, even as the nature of their 'place' is always evolving. The span of time involved so far exceeds both my experience and understanding of it, my conclusions are somewhat irrelevant (at least on that scale). It makes a lot of sense (even beyond rationality) to me that such a thing means something. The traditions of understanding that nature is the primal representation of spirituality is not hard for me to accept (even if I tend to forget it at times).
Further, the connection between nature and that Being described as love does not feel inappropriate or even a stretch. It would seem that Being would have a motive when creating something beautiful — true at both human and divine levels, isn't it? A motive to do that would be what we might characterize as...loving. The meaning involved would seem to necessitate communication; portrayal, offering, invitation, acceptance.
Doesn't nature seem to do this? Obviously, there are deviations from a constant state of this (how else can you fit things like earthquakes or other 'natural' disasters into this equation of understanding?). But, the overall pattern seems to be beauty, harmony, inter-relatedness, dependence, care, respect, work, enjoyment...and on and on. This all could be described in a variety of ways (and has been), but it holds water for me to also describe it as love.
I'm going to a funeral today. Why (am I going)?
I suspect it is related to all this because the life lived, in the context above, was caught up in the meaning of this beauty. He tried to capture it. He wanted to embody it. Many benefitted because of it; we were drawn into each of the three dimensions I'm describing here. Nature, love, God. I want to honor that and the person who was involved and who lives on, despite his physical passing.
Perhaps my body lifted my head this morning (usually I'm looking down, trying to avoid falling in the dark). Perhaps it said something like, see what persists (and surrounds) in all the living and dying we do on this earth. Notice it. Appreciate it. Perpetuate it.
Nature does it, in my opinion, because it represents Something (God) who does it, so that we can do it, too.