The World Within the World
Built into the fabric of our world, and the fabric of our very nature, is the rhythmic changing of the seasons. Weather patterns are an outward expression of what is happening on the inside of us. Winter - Spring - Summer - Fall happen inside us.
It is our inside out. But not just our inside. The universe’s as well.
The universe has a soul. It sounds strange at first. The universe is not a single entity, or a living organism as it were. Or is it? Is there something actively connecting the millions of galaxies and life beyond what we can see or imagine? It feels like it.
This connecting is the Soul of the World. It is the Something connecting the world and its variant pieces. Even the disjointed and almost clumsy will somehow come together. In transcendent moments we see, even for a second, this connecting potential.
We can not imagine everything working together. We can not really imagine perfect harmony. We can not imagine beauty un-masked. Colors completely vivid. Our minds simply can not comprehend it. But someday we will. Someday barriers will be removed.
The pattern of everyday reminds us that. No matter how great or how terribly awful one day may be, the next morning stands alone. Resolute. New. Unconcerned with yesterday. Ready to declare amnesty on whatever happened the day before.
Think of the day after a major weather-oriented disaster (hurricane, tornado)…all the destructive force of nature unleashed on a area…all the intense build up…all the devastation. And yet, there is the morning, new and detached.
Seemingly anaware of the what just happened.
Or that anything happened. Just there. Fresh. Clean. New. Our response in the moment: “Really? You’re just going to come out like that? Clear skies. Birds singing.” Birds singing? How do birds survive such things? And yet they do.
Life survives. Life keeps on. Life finds a way.
That is the soul of the world. Despite the brokenness, something brings hope. Something or Someone is behind the reconstruction. Something or Someone is rallying the troops, encouraging, bringing life to a situation that seems only dead.
There is a world within the world. An invisible realm if you will. A world separate and distinct from this one. Yet open to all. All are invited. It is a world full of life-giving presence. It is a world where the values of this present world are turned upside down.
When this world fails you, or you fail it - which will happen, you will be left with the aftertaste of despair. You will hit your head on the glass ceiling of its reality one too many times. You will wonder in desperation if this is really all that there is.
Some will make the conclusion that indeed it is. Any thoughts of an invisible world of love and joy is simply too good to be true. They are definitely right about that. This alternative world of peace and kindness is very much too good to be true.
No one can really believe it until they experience it. That may sound like a convenient apology but it is reality, like explaining the thrill of a roller-coaster or the instense emotions of one’s first love. Experience, sometimes, is the only way to know.
