“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein

I think the great scientist Albert Einstein knew a thing or two about the transcendent nature of life. He managed to ground his intellect in a humility that left expansiveness for his imagination. He didn’t chide that imaginative, creative part of himself or dismiss it as inferior. He was brilliant intellectually – and he also knew that the human brain was limiting and lacking. In 1929 and subsequently he also said:

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

I think I am at my best when I live this way: open-hearted and receptive to the beauty and mystery of life. The weight of the world’s chaos and my worries about my future can stunt my experience of the good parts of life. It takes intention to live counter to the entropy of the world. This morning I am thinking I will have to chase down wonder, or as my friend, Wendy says, “put myself in the way of beauty”. That feels a necessary and a worthwhile pursuit. If only I could manage to keep at it when the wintering seasons dominate the landscape. It is possible.

I awoke yesterday morning with a ridiculous thought: “what if I am divine?” Don’t worry. I am not thinking I can evade death and I have no plans to form a cult or proclaim myself the 2nd coming of Christ. I am simply wondering how I might live if I saw myself as possessing divinity. Would I stand taller? Would I feel the energy of the trees when I stand beneath them – like I do the ocean? Would cleaning the toilet be less of a chore? Would my homeless neighbors seem more worthy of my time and love? Would I see Donald Trump with some benevolence and compassion? Would my relationships be enough – just as they are? I suppose the fact that I am thinking about it is worth the exercise. I have a feeling Albert would appreciate it. What do you think?

With that in mind, I want to share the lyrics of a song I wrote several years ago. It is a familiar theme in my writing. I feel and experience the “world beyond the world” sometimes. It feels like it is always there, just beneath the surface – and I occasionally get to be present to it. I would like that to expand in my life. In this song, the last verse I wrote was following an encounter with a Palestinian Christian from the West Bank who is (still) a nonviolent activist. His name is Sami Awad and he is one of the most brilliant and luminous humans I have ever met. I will add a short video for you at the end.

So here it is.

Sunrise against a blue sky; fingers of light over the hills
The dew dissipates under waves of morning warmth; another day is here for the living
One by one we rise and go out into the world, not thinking of the miracles that happen when we do
The stars recede behind the sun’s rising and life is standing right before our eyes

Every summertime I make a pilgrimage
To the Selkirk mountains out in Washington
I sit under a pine like I have since I was a child
On ice age rocks the size of houses
Mile by mile I drive out into the west
Not thinking of the miracles that happen when I do
Confusion dissipates like the fog off of the lake
And my heart is standing right before my eyes

In a far off land there lives a man whose life is shattered from the warring
Still he gives himself to peace and love
Even tho it is impossible to create
Day by day he chooses to go a different path
And sees the miracles that happen when he does
He says it is a privilege to love his enemies
And peace is standing right before his eyes and love is standing right before his eyes… Isn’t it a wonder