BEAUTY IS IN THE ‘I’ OF THE BEHOLDER

The physical universe is so huge and vast, of which we know so little, but have the audacity to reduce in our minds to three dimensions: length, depth, and height. Simplistic conceptions are even more impaired attempting to explain the spiritual. Observing this physical plane and pausing to reflect on the wonder of the realm we inhabit, take a slow breath through the nose, counting to four as you inhale. Hold that breath for two counts of eight and then exhale to a count of eight. Ponder the Biblical expression, “God so loved the world that he sent his son”; translated, the spiritual placed itself in a physical form so as to be able to experience this amazing physical universe. When each child takes its first breath, a soul enters that body to utilize for a lifetime as a vehicle to experience the physical plane. Forced head first into the world by the contractions of the birth canal, the newborn is lifted by its mother to her breast over the heart center.

Relax your breathing to its natural pattern, watching the young mother gazing down on the child suckling at her breast while the infant’s hands idly grasp, feeling her hair. Experience love, the rhythm of the mothers heart beating through its four chambers. The cross, mystic symbol representing ‘four’, a crossroads. Time, the fourth dimension, carries the being through the experience of human love: mother, father, siblings, family, a warm puppy, a close friend. A crossroads is reached, emotion in an even higher form: Awareness of God. With birth the individual travels outward through time from its starting point, in ever expanding circles of experience.

OUR SUN

Sun — center of our universe, source of the energy that supports life on earth. The imagination floats up from the sun, out through the solar system, passing each planet in turn. Up ever further until we see the sun as only another star in a constellation of stars. Then the constellation recedes until it appears no more than a spot of light among billions of lights forming the Milky Way. Further out, until the galaxy appears but a tiny star among trillions of other galaxies, then outward to the edge of our universe. Looked at from the side, it looks like a little loop of energy.

Back down to earth, we return with the speed of thought. Behind the diaphragm, our lily gently rocks on the water under the warmth of the sun. Dragonflies dart by, birds sing, and fish swim below the surface. What an amazing world. Attention microscopes down to a lotus petal. Down to the individual cells. Down further to the molecules making up the cell, then the atoms forming the molecules. Further down to the electrons, protons, and neutrons that comprise the atom. On down to the quarks that are the building blocks of the protons and neutrons. At this minute level, the distance between the matter that forms the subatomic particles is so great that it is, in its own scale, as great as the distance between the stars in the heavens. Our physical universe is mostly energy with very little matter. Further yet our imagination carries us, till we see what comprises the quarks, looked at from the side, little loops of energy.

QUARK

Simultaneously, the stem shaft of our plant breaks the surface of the water, basking in the warm orange light of the sun as it filters through the dawn atmosphere above. The plant stem opens, releasing two beautiful leaves that rest and bob on the water in the warm sunlight like the leaves of a lily. The water gently rocks the lotus leaves. The water below, the sky above. The vagina contracts, savoring more stimulation, causing the penis to throb with increased feeling. The vagina contracts in response, the penis swelling again with its good fortune. The two work together and against each other behind the navel, contracting and expanding. Duality exists in all its forms of expression: in and out; soft and hard; male and female; the relationship represented by the yin yang and either/or thinking. The one is made aware of itself through interaction with the other.

Sexual yearning intensifies; the waves undulate, rocking our lily. A carnal exclamation rises from the soul. All is beautiful lust as a tidal wave of passion breaks. The vagina pulls all creation in as the penis explodes, bursting with ecstasy. The union is complete. The two become three as great spurts of sperm splash mixing with the orgasmic cervical secretions and a wondrous blossom opens. A lovely lotus flower with a thousand white petals holds its face up to the sun. The sun looks down on the lily with warm rapture and the lotus follows the suns nurturing rays back to their source above and behind the diaphragm.