Catching Sight . . .

“When we catch sight of the soul, we can become healers in a wounded world – in the family, in the neighborhood, in the workplace, and in political life – as we are called back to our “hidden wholeness.”

~Parker Palmer

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend some time at a dark sky preserve on Manitoulin Island. Located well away from urban light, the only artificial illumination at night was a few tiny, faint red lights marking individual campsites scattered around a central field.

As the sun was setting, we gathered with other campers on the field. The view was unobstructed and the sky couldn’t have been clearer. A thin crescent moon hung just above the horizon. Waiting for the moon to slide away and the sky to darken felt like going to a drive-in movie and waiting for the show to start.

It was truly a special night. As darkness grew, planets popped out, stars brightened and the Milky Way swept across the sky. Streaking meteors and gliding satellites moved through it all. And just as we were heading back to our tent, a white shimmer of Northern Lights offered one last marvel.

I’ve seen stars and planets, meteors and satellites before. I’ve seen even more dramatic displays of the Aurora. Perhaps what made this experience different and special was the intention behind it: to just observe the night sky. Not to look for anything in particular, not analyze, just take in whatever presented itself.

What arose for me later was this: as beautiful, intriguing, and magical as a clear night sky can be – it’s always there. Day or night, cloudy or clear, stars are gleaming, satellites spinning, planets glowing. We only need the right conditions, the time and the intention to catch sight of it all.

I wonder if that is true for each one of us. That there are parts of us – beautiful, intriguing, magical – that we only experience when the conditions are right and we take the time to see them in ourselves and each other. Parker Palmer references Thomas Merton when he claims that there is within everything a hidden wholeness.

Our next retreat series Wholeness & Renewal in a Shifting World is a weekly, online Circle of Trust Retreat ® exploring wholeness, and how embracing all that we are can support us through personal and global change. We’ll do our best to create the conditions to allow us to glimpse what may be hidden. Taking the time to catch sigh of our soul, our wholeness, might, as Parker Palmer suggests, help us work toward a more just, loving, and equitable world.

You could join us.