Yesterday I was "running"ha ha, in the morning on the canal that backs up to our house. It was about 6:00am and there was a cool breeze blowing. I noticed the sound of the leaves rustling and the way the light reflected off them. I looked at the ripples the breeze created on the water in the canal with the light dancing off them. It was beautiful and peaceful. I was thinking about why. Why did the simple breeze, water and leaves seem so beautiful to me? Why did they create a feeling of peace and calm in me? Maybe it's because these things are of nature and that the light and spirit of God is in them. Something so simple as a cool breeze rustling the leaves of a tree can be so calming and connect us more to ourselves if we take the time to experience it.
That morning was Sept 2nd. Its now Sept 27 and I have just read a chapter in the current book I'm reading.
The Chapter is called Thin Places Opening the Heart. "Thin Places" is a metaphor from Celtic Christianity that began in the fifth century. It's a way of thinking about God that sees God as "the More," as the encompassing Spirit in which everything is. God is not somewhere else, but "right here" This way of thinking affirms that there are minimally two layers or dimensions of reality, the visible world of our ordinary experience and God, the sacred, Spirit.
One of the authors favorite quotations expressing this understanding of God is from Thomas Merton, a twentieth-century Trappist monk:
"Life is simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything-in people, and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. It's impossible. The only thing is that we don't see it."
The author says occasionally we do "see it", do experience God shining through everything.
"Thin Places" are places where these two levels of reality meet or intersect. He goes on to say that a thin place is anywhere our hearts are opened. A thin place is a means of grace. He says there are many kinds of thin places for example nature, especially wilderness areas, music, poetry, literature, the visual arts, and dance can all become thin places in which the boundary between one's self and the world momentarily disappears.
Wow! This reminds me of that morning I wrote about on Sept 2nd and about so many other moments! It's cool.
There's more about it in the book but one key thing is that the spirit of God operates through "thin places" to open hearts.
