WITNESSING A DERECHO

DERECHO, SIOUX FALLS, SD

Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning,

Green sky in the afternoon, pilgrim take cover soon!

I recently ran across a photo from South Dakota that triggered a latent memory from my childhood in Kansas.  The photo captured a rare sight that is only seen during a violent weather event which meteorologists call a derecho which means “straight ahead” in Spanish.  That’s the first and last time that I witnessed a green sky in the west and just as rare an event when the storm reached our neighborhood.

A derecho is a widespread and long-lived, fast moving, straight line, storm that can extend for more than 250 miles and include very strong, severe, damaging winds and wind gusts.  The green, apocalyptic-looking sky implies that the deep blue clouds are saturated with water and ice particles which scatter the short wavelength blue light rays.  When the longer wavelength red sunset beams of light illuminate the blue objects in the sky, it morphs to green.  It’s an indication that the ice particles have been tumbled up and back down in the turbulent clouds until the hail stones weigh enough to strike the earth’s surface.  This intense weather event can even spawn destructive tornadoes and downward microbursts.

Back in Kansas, I recall standing on the sidewalk outside our home when the approaching storm caught my attention.  I could see distant lightning flashes and the thunderous responses getting closer together as the storm gathered nearer.  And as it ominously came closer to me over the neighboring homes and elm trees, I saw the blue sky turn into that apocalyptic green as if the world was coming to an end!  I ran inside the house and called my mother to come outside and see this green mass descending upon us.

We stood together on the front porch for some sense of security and then witnessed a second anomaly that I’ve never seen since.  The skies opened with a torrential rain and large hail pummeling the land across the street, but our side of the street was spared.  Not one drop of rain or hail crossed that road and the storm passed almost as quickly as it arrived. 

Watching the skies actually turn from a bright blue to an ominous dark green probably couldn’t compare to the ancient Egyptians watching the Nile River turn from a deep blue to a blood red or the worst thunderstorm ever of hail and fire during the ten plagues.   But it left an indelible memory with an impressionable young Kansas boy that day.

BE A GOLDFISH

BE A GOLDFISH

 After a bad play, Ted Lasso reminded his players that the happiest creatures in the world are goldfish, because they can only remember things for 10 seconds.  

Tiger Woods dad, Earl, always told him to take 10 steps before doing anything else after a bad shot.  When asked to comment about a previous bad shot, 

Jack Nicklaus always responded that he didn’t remember it.  We never lose if we don’t lose the lesson and soldier on.  

Be a goldfish!

THE OBSERVER EFFECT

 

I recently read a review of a new best-selling fictional book simply titled OBSERVER.  It caught my attention because I remembered reading about a scientific experiment result in 1998 that was completely unexpected when the researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science encountered the Observer Effect.  They were conducting a double split fork experiment with electrons at the subatomic level beamed at the fork.  In short, the particles behaved like waves, but when a conscious, quantum observer was present, they behaved like particles.  The researchers were forced to conclude that the mere act of observation affected the outcome which has raised all sorts of speculation.  Robert Lanza’s new novel explores the notion that time, space and even reality all ultimately depend upon us, the observers.

Consciousness can be defined as being mindful or aware of oneself as a thinking, feeling being.  We realize with awe the miracle of a body that is informed by this extraordinary thing we call life that we take for granted almost every day.  The fateful day we realize this eternal truth is the beginning of a lifelong spiritual journey.

God is a conscious spiritual being and we are conscious mortal beings.  We were created in his image, so we can expect parallels in our existence.  His being occupies the universe like our consciousness occupies our body.  By liberating the spaces in our lives and minds that are filled with clutter and chatter, we allow the presence of God to more easily occupy that space!

If two particles are entangled and if you observe one of them, then the other is affected even if they’re far apart.  That communication is instantaneous, suggesting there is no space between them and no time influencing their behavior.  Aldous Huxley in his book, The Doors of Perception” theorizes that our brain possibly acts as a mental filter to help us survive on this planet.  We’re only capable of perceiving the material world around us versus the infinite sea of consciousness

We only consciously know the information that our five senses perceive.  However, consciousness does not simply observe the universe, we create it collectively.  Even though a table is mostly composed of empty space at the subatomic level, we collectively consider it as a solid at the macro-level.  The particles of atoms consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons that revolve in extremely vast regions of empty space.  Man has now determined that there are no solid objects at the subatomic level.   A subatomic particle is a set of relationships that reach out and interconnect, not with objects, but with other interconnections.  Light travels in waves and as particles (photons) at the speed of light.  The photons collide with the air, in a cosmic dance of continuous creation and destruction, a ceaseless flow of energy going through a multiplicity of patterns.  The waves are abstract patterns of probabilities or relationships.   At the subatomic level there is a continual exchange of matter and energy between us and everything around us.  We're all part of one inseparable web of relationships.  

  J. P. Moreland reasons that, “Consciousness cannot be reduced merely to the physical brain.  Our consciousness came from a greater consciousness.  You see, the Christian worldview begins with thought and feeling and desire and choice.  That is, God is conscious.  God has thoughts.  He has beliefs, he has desires, he has awareness, he’s alive, he acts with a purpose.  We start there and because we start with the mind of God, we don’t have a problem explaining the origin of our mind.  …he’s invisible because that’s the way conscious beings are.  I have no inclination to doubt that this very room is teeming with the very presence of God.”

Jill Bolte Taylor writing in My Stroke of Insight perceived life through the restricted lens of only her right brain after a stroke incapacitated her left hemisphere.  She observed that her self-concept was no longer a solid with boundaries, but a fluid.  Operating without the constant "brain chatter" from her left hemisphere left her feeling one with the universe.  Mystics and serious practitioners can also reach that ultimate present moment state of nirvana. 

Taylor writes, “The innate differences we each experience...to stimulation contributes greatly to how we perceive the world…When I lost my left hemisphere and its language centers, I also lost the clock that would break my moments into consecutive brief instances.  Instead of having my moments prematurely stunted, they became open-ended, and I felt no rush to do anything. 

My entire self-concept shifted as I no longer perceived myself as a single, a solid, an entity with boundaries that separated me from the entities around me.  I understood that at the most elementary level, I am a fluid.  Of course, I am a fluid!  Everything around us, about us, among us, within us, and between us is made up of atoms and molecules vibrating in space. 

My left hemisphere had been trained to perceive myself as a solid, separate from others.  Now, released from that restrictive circuitry, my right hemisphere relished in its attachment to the eternal flow.  I was no longer isolated and alone.  My soul was as big as the universe and frolicked with glee in a boundless sea… Our right brain perceives the big picture and recognizes that everything around us, about us, among us, and within us is made up of energy particles that are woven together into a universal tapestry.  Since everything is connected, there is an intimate relationship between the atomic space around and within me, and the atomic space around and within you—regardless of where we are.

One of the many conclusions in the book refers back to the famous two-slit experiment which asks the question, “How can a particle ‘out there’ change its behavior depending on whether you watch it or not?  The answer is simple—reality is a process that involves our consciousness.”

FINDING EACH OTHER HAIKU

SOULMATES

Oh, Hello, it’s you,

You seem so familiar,

We’re soulmates you know.

 

The paths we’ve taken,

In spite of the twists and turns,

Have converged tonight.

 

Our pasts were the same,

Even though they were apart,

Now we're joined as one.

 

The game is over,

There’s no need to look further,

We’ve found each other.

TRANSITIONING BEAUTY

 

TRANSITION

Our bodies have been changing from the moment of conception.  Every character line and scar are testaments to a life well lived.  Resisting those changes only detracts from embracing the inevitable transition to our earned elder status in our circle of influence.  

Growing old gracefully is the best response to the inevitable passage of relentless time.

And somewhere on that journey, the lines of beauty cross as the radiance of the soul eclipses bodily features.

LIFE LESSONS

 

Field of Dreams, Jamestown, NC

I recently happened upon some parting thoughts by Donna Ashworth whom I do not know, but I related to many of her observations on a life well lived and it prompted me to consider a few of my own:

We are born three times:  the day of our first breath, the day we figure out why we were born and the day our spirit is homeward bound on our last breath. 

Growing old gracefully is the best revenge.  We know it’s inevitable so why try to live against the wind?  Everyone dies, but not everyone lives to the fullest.  Embrace life as the adventure that awaits us with every day’s challenges and joys.  Wouldn’t the world be so much brighter if we took the time to see a person’s soul and not their outward appearance?

Don’t burn daylight being concerned about other people’s opinion of you because they are quite probably more self-centered and less confident--and it was never about you anyway.  If you can’t be kind, learn to be quiet.

Only one man ever walked this planet in perfection.  He spent three years of intense teaching to show us how to live to strive for such an unreachable goal and left us with the beautiful concept of grace.  If someone cuts you off in traffic, let them go and cool your jets.  You never know what they are dealing with at the time and it’s probably best not to get in the middle of it.

Chasing happiness is elusive, as its reward is obtained from external stimuli like buying stuff and the effect wears off the second the price tags are removed.  But joy can be found internally, without the need for things of this world.

Many folks only see and comment on what others do wrong.  Surprise people by catching them doing something right and acknowledging it!  A simple handwritten “Thank You” note works wonders because so few people do it.

Just about anything we do in excess as we traverse this life is damaging.  Anything in moderation is preferable.  Replace stress and worry with joy and peace.  Many things in life are out of our control except one thing—our response.  Leave the rest to our Heavenly Father and try again in the morning.

We’re a curious human species.  We see in life what we look for in life.  If we look for negatives, we’ll find them and the same is true for positives.  A headline reading “dog bites man” won’t get our attention, but “man bites dog” will always do the trick.  “If it bleeds, it leads” is a mantra that has stood the test of time.

Always drink the good wine and use the good dishes.  Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. Live a life that plans for the future, learns from the past, and fully embraces the present, for that is all we’re guaranteed and where life is played out. Try to leave your sphere of influence a little better than you found it and encourage others to help heal the brokenness.  One simple act of kindness trumps a thousand platitudes.

LIVING WITH THE SPIRIT WIND

MOVING KANSAS SPIRIT WIND

“The wind gives our children the spirit of life.”—Chief Seattle

They say that God is in the wind and as a boy growing up in the windy mid-western Kansas plains I came to instinctively sense this. I was keenly aware of this especially as I hunted the prairie grasses for wild quail and prairie chickens while the ubiquitous winds carried them away ahead of me.  The native Kansa Indians were known as “the people of the south wind”.  Jesus mentioned in John 3:8 (just before the well-known John 3:16 verse) that “God’s Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.” God made his presence known at Pentecost via a violent wind, fire, and his Holy Spirit.  However, when Elijah needed a message in 1 Kings 19 there was a great wind, an earthquake and finally a fire, but God was not in any of these.  Then God’s message came in a gentle whisper.  It’s up to us to be aware and many times to retreat from the chaos and noise of the world around us and simply listen humbly and quietly to the silence born on gentle breezes.

God has communicated to humankind over the centuries verbally, with angels, in dreams, and through His Son. Since the time of that revelation of himself over 2,000 years ago, he is more to be felt than seen.  I’ve been fascinated by Native Americans because I believe they lived a harsh but harmonious life out in God’s creation every day of their lives. They were convinced of the existence of a Great Spirit and the sacredness of the earth. They viewed winds as the personification of a divine messenger and an autonomous living force.  They observed the path of the winds to be this divine being sweeping through the land.  And they considered this being to be a counselor, a term that also defines the role of the Holy Spirit.  The Navajo, Apache and Hopi use a diamond shape to symbolize the powerful four-fold nature of the four winds: freedom, eternity, unity and balance.

It’s interesting to note that both the Hebrew and Greek words for wind, breath and spirit are the same. God breathed life into the first human beings. The air around us has been described as the kingdom of the heavens. We certainly can’t survive without it. Is it merely composed of natural elements like oxygen and carbon dioxide, or is there something more transparent and spiritual at work in this rarefied air?

When we’re out in God’s creation and enjoying the experience of the life he has given to us, we can begin to feel his presence. I believe God is in these winds more so than anything else in his created universe. And these caressing breezes provide a closeness for some of the most sublime moments in our life as a child of God.

In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, the prophet had a vision of God leading him to a valley of dry human bones. The dry bones represented the hopelessly and spiritually dead condition of the people who were living against the wind.  And God told Ezekiel to prophesy that the breath of the four winds would come and breathe into those slain, that they might live. And life was restored as the bones rose up and lived again! Once God breathes His spirit back into a people, they will have new life!