This must be what paradise is like.....its so peaceful in here....

Have you ever had the opportunity to stand in awe while watching the majesty of the northern lights rise up from the horizon with its colourful dancing rays reaching up into the dark night sky? I live in a part of the world where they do appear from time to time and when it happens, it seems like time as we know it stands still. Everything that seemed urgent falls to the wayside as your attention sends you into a gaze and your whole being becomes so very small in comparison. It is a feast for the eyes.........so much so that the silence it produces all around you allows you to hear the tinkling chime in the electrified air.......a hymn in the thinness of aurora borealis. It makes me wonder if the ethereal rays are a hint of infinity.

Nature's palette is a never ending discourse on what eternal feels like. There are times, especially when you find yourself in the eye of a storm when the overpowering forces shrink your presence down to a miniscule existance. We can feel very tiny when nature engulfs us. It happens too when you step out into a dark clear night and look up at the depth and breadth of the stars and wonder what's beyond.....or when you stand on the edge of the tidal shore and lost out into the mysterious vastness of the ocean. Nothing seems more humbling and frightening than recognizing ourselves as a simple speck lost in the magnitude of creation.

To find balance and a sense of ourselves, we seek out ways and means of feeling an earth bound connectiveness to the world around us..........a hike into the forest, a climb up a hill, a walk in a garden....... It has a levelling feeling of seeing that we play a role on our planet. I love the solace when the sunlight filters through the cathedral of branches when I'm inside the woods. Green and light warmth of life. However, I find this feeling is the most striking for me when I am kneeling in a canoe, paddling on the river or a lake, surrounded by the familiarity of the water and shoreline. Though there is much to explore and much to observe, it seems manageable somehow......engaging and beautiful when the calm waters pool reflections both on the surface of the water and inside my thoughts.

Nature has allowed us to acquire a more textured understanding of the big descriptive spiritual words in our vocabulary.

Glory, Radiance...Holy.......Sacred

Reverence

Transcendence

Majestic

Grace

The word that comes to mind when I look at these two photos and remember the early evening paddle with a friend early in the summer is tranquility. I don't think I would ever really understand the depth of the word tranquility if it wasn't for the times I have spent kneeling in a canoe surrounded the familiar terrain of my home. Calm pooling reflections which let me know I belong to this vast and magnificent world.........alive, content, and with a smile on my face.

Theologian and mystic, Meister Eckhart stated.......“He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.” The feeling of true tranquility softens my worries and lets the serenity pour into the possibilities stored inside me. It is a process of detachment.....from the shackles of time, commitment and the strong will of my ego to a sense of being surrounded by the earth I am a part of. It is where I come from and it is where I will go.......and in between those points, it is where I can feel most alive.

this week's thematic photography prompt is nature.......for other photos and thoughts to accompany, check out Carmi's blog, Written Inc.