This was recorded in my journal on Monday, July 6th. Use caution, it gets deep at the end:
Something came alive in me atop “Elephant Hill” today—I think it was love. Karigiri, which means “elephant hill” in Tamil, is named after the nearby landform that looks like an elephant lying down from a distance. I got the idea to summit it yesterday, and I could wait no longer, so as soon as I was done in the molecular biology lab, I set off. From the top, I could see 360° of flatlands, including Vellore and Chitoor and the many villages that fill in the gaps, and also the Eastern Ghats jutting up behind the flatlands. I was very alone up there, but I had the company of Sigur Ros melodies (Untitled #2 in particular for those who are interested) and Lord Byron’s poetry going through my head:
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods.
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but nature more.
I was utterly overcome with emotion. It began as a very real gratefulness for God’s provision, not just for the splendor of His creation, but for providing me such ample time for prayer, meditation, and introspection (and now He had even given me an excellent location to do these things). Though it began as gratefulness, there arose in me an overwhelming feeling of compassion for all the people encompassed in my range of vision: so many who are physically and spiritually broken…so many lost without any sense of direction. The moment was so profound and beautiful. I thought of how the physical world can be broken down, from the Universe to planets to objects to molecules to elements, and then to atoms and subatomic particles. It’s abstract I know, but it just hit me that this experience is the stuff that life is made of. I tasted for a few moments the irreducible substance of this life that God has blessed me with.
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Hey man, I'm glad you've been finding plenty of time to have some solitude. I've been able to have more time for that than I ever expected, and I can say that I've had similar experiences to what you talked about. Strange how much God can be present when we actually look, huh? Oh, and in regards to the other post, I've been reading a lot too...well, I was until recently, but it's gotten a little busier. Hope you enjoy every day in India. I'll be praying extra for you buddy
ReplyDeleteHey man, sounds like you are really seeing God in new ways. It is strange how little we see here. I think that the trips will help open our eyes even more to God back in the states. Keep up the work, love you man.
ReplyDeleteI like your use of literature. Lord Byron is suberb.
ReplyDeleteIt's really funny because LeeAnn and I were coming back from Starbuck's a week or two ago and the sunset was so stunning that we stopped at the lake by the golf course and just watched it. And guess what? We listened to Sigur Ros, Untitled #2. No joke. It was beautiful. I'm sure it's nothing like what you described, but still. I can't wait to go on my internship, but I've been blessed to see some beautiful places in Toccoa, too, that I had really never knew were even there. It's nice to have the summer to explore.
Can't wait to talk to you again on Thursday!
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4). You just experienced a God moment of lived out scriptural truth – you broke through the wall that keeps the Word of God from being experienced, not just analyzed. Give thanks for your blessing.
ReplyDeleteSteve Schofield
So I was reading Nature by Emerson today and this passage really reminded me think of this post:
ReplyDelete“Standing on the bare ground,--my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, --all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds foreign and accidental; to be brothers, to be acquaintances,--master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in street or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.”
Just thought I would share that.
Your "elephant hill" experience is no small experience, Joseph. I like how Steve described it as breaking through a wall. It's like we all have a veil over our heart eyes, but it can be pulled back in a revelation of true agape love.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience once and I think it's cool that my first response was immense gratitude, as well. For almost a whole day I was overcome with hundreds of things to be sincerely thankful for. Next came a tremendous burden to give my life away, not just to foreign mission work, but daily putting others first and being a servant to all. I hope I get to do that in India someday.
I'm so glad God is speaking clearly and closely to you, brother.
Love, Laurie