Moments of Awareness

Satori, the Buddhists say, is a state of permanent enlightenment, a complete understanding of the connectedness of all things, that the individual is a part of everything, and indeed, everything is part of the individual. Separateness is a myth, and suddenly one understands there is no individual, it's just impossible. But because I'm attempting to describe this with words those enlightened souls would also agree I'm not there.
And yet we can have glimpses of this ultimate reality, through what the Japanese call Kensho. It's a moment of sudden realization given to ordinary people like you and me, an expanded awareness that comes on unannounced, unbidden, and which leaves us astonished and grasping for words to describe it.
It is the flick of a switch that lights our world, sometimes in the midst of the most mundane tasks. For me it was washing dishes. There I was one day many years ago, performing this necessary daily task, thinking of nothing in particular, when the world lit up. For just a moment, I could see myself alive in the here and now. Within this moment was the rightness of the moment, of my place in things and the knowledge that everything is as it should be. There was an awareness of the universe, of past and present and future, and that these concepts we use to describe time were inadequate and not quite correct, but necessary for my life here in a physical world. Then, just as quickly the switch turns off.
To describe such an experience to another person is impossible, unless it has happened to them. I hadn't thought much about this until one day a co-worker was trying to describe a similar experience. She had previously attempted to tell another co-worker who met her story with a great deal of doubt and teased her a little about it, though good-naturedly. When she told me, I understood.
We aren't on-fire seekers of the essential nature of reality, constant students of enlightenment, obedient children of the gods. She and I are working folk. We each have our beliefs, of course, that guide us in our encounters with others. But you'll most likely find us to be deeply involved in the day to day matters of life, survival, family and friends. We are grandmothers, mothers, daughters, friends, consumers, savers, socialites and sometimes hermits. Until that moment when I heard her anecdote, though, I had seen little else in common with my co-worker. Now I see her as a fellow traveller who, for an instant was on the same journey, although she may have reached that crossroad from a different path. I am grateful that she told me of her experience, because now I hear the Universe whispering patiently once again.

Oyy! You out there?

I've done it. It's the dawn of a new era. I've put meself on the blogs, and hopefully every day I'll find something to gripe about, or, maybe to talk intelligently about, or poke at.

I am a pagan. The way I see it I agree with Thomas Jefferson, who said, "It does me no harm for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god." It's a comment on religious tolerance and a mighty one.

Actually I always wanted to be a Viking, but I'm the wrong sex, and I'm less than five feet tall, far too little to wield a broadsword. Maybe I'd succeed better as a Valkyrie, but I've no wings. That's a joke.

I'm an old, burned out journalist, who is still addicted to politics, but hungry for a new expression. I've started this thing to stretch my mental fingers again. I hope to hear from other pagans, some of whom already know me on other websites. Here's a hint: I like pie.

Trolls will be expelled, especially if they eat succulent babies. I'm new to blogging, so it's simple right now, but I'll try to make it interesting.