SOURCE
By
Michelle Gardner-Quinn "You know those moments you have when you enter a silence that's still and complete and peaceful? That's the source, the place where everything comes from. In that space you know everything is connected, that there's an ecology of everything. In that place it is possible for people to have a change of thinking, a change in their way of being and living in the world." Linda Hogan This quote describes best when I have felt closest to my core and derived my passions and purpose. I have experienced my core, my soul, the feelings of interconnectedness always when in the natural world. I feel that I experienced this most when I was quite young. The miracle of life fascinated me and I felt a deep connection with all beings. Perhaps then I had a better understanding of it and my college life has been an attempt to reconnect with that understanding which inspired so much. I have felt this deep union in my recent life and have gone great distances to seek it out. A time that comes to mind was when I was on an island off the coast of Sao Paolo State in Brazil. The whole island was protected as a state park, except for a small fishing village on the coast. One night the group went down to the village for drinks and porro. But as I am a horrible dancer, I took a walk down the beach and went swimming with a few other students. A clear sky full of stars was above and the water lit up with phosphorescent organisms. It was then that I felt filled with the awe of life again. Looking back on the experience, I also felt a balance that had been missing from my core for a long time. I felt a union with all the other life surrounding me in the forest, in the waters, in the village and in the sky. My body and mind melded into the earth's, enveloped in the gentle rocking of the water. I felt at peace and no longer lost. I am nowhere near understanding my core, but in these moments I have glimpsed that power in me to explore and search more.
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
T.S. Eliot
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