Adoration

The human spirit is somewhat restless and often seeks to experience something more than the daily
round and grind. A person may remember being on an ocean beach, it is towards evening and one
is lulled by the rhythm of the waves as they ceaselessly roll in and recede. This ceaseless motion
may create a sense of timelessness in which the human spirit finds itself somehow at home. Is this
timelessness a breath of eternity since it in some manner resonates deep inside the human spirit.
Is it an echo of the Sacred?

It is evening and the ship is mid-ocean and the sun is setting in a glorious array of colour and light.
Passengers look at the majestic sight and sense its beauty, a beauty that is tangible yet elusive
since it cannot be contained. Persons are drawn out of themselves and, once again, the human spirit
finds itself somehow at home, at home with a vision of glory bursting the boundaries of human
endeavour. Is this boundless beauty an echo of the Sacred?

The married couple have just been blessed with the birth of their first child. They look in wonder on
the tiny human being who is a reflection of their love, the fruit of their love. They look into the eyes
of the child and see there themselves and are filled with wonder. Emotions are deep and profound
as they embrace this new life. Their love has created new life and new hope and they remain
breathless with wonder. Their spirits are profoundly touched, they are lifted out of themselves in
wonder. Is this wonder an echo of the Sacred?

Dusk at Palm Beach in New South Wales may be a transforming experience. Dusk descends, a fine
mist covers the inner waters near Barrenjoey and all is still. There is no breeze, no ruffling of the
waters, no person in sight, all is so still. One can almost feel the stillness and one’s spirit rises out
of the self to some experience too personal and too elusive to describe. As it is translated in some
text there is the “sound of sheer silence.” Is this stillness and silence the sound of the Sacred?
Music touches many a heart and soul. Who has not experienced being lifted outside of oneself by
music? It has a power to entrance persons and in that moment time ceases, all is rapture, all is
peace. One is no longer conscious of the self but has touched a level of being that cannot be put
into words. Is it that music, too, may be a sound of the Sacred?

Gaze on a clear night into the heavens above and see the myriad of stars. Countless generations
have gazed in to the same depths of space and have been filled with a sense of awe. The mind
cannot grapple with the immensity of space, the tinyness of our world, and how small we humans
are in the complexity of the cosmos. The more we search the heavens, the more we gaze into the
watches of the night, so our spirits are filled with an awe that is at once so enticing and so
mysterious. Are the heavens a soundless echo of the Sacred?