Sunday Newscape Magazine

As a writer I'm perhaps more in love with words than most. I love the way they roll off the tongue, the way they line a page. I love spending time scouring my prized Roget's International Thesaurus Sixth Edition for the precise expression of meaning I seek. I love casting my eyes upon an unknown word like dittology (the knowledge of double interpretations). As imperfect as words can sometimes be, to me, they are still sacred.

I realize that sacred isn't a common word these days...beyond church walls. After all, sacred isn't hip or expedient or seemingly relevant to our whirlwind lives. But, perhaps it should be relevant. We could all use a dose of reverence to remind us who we are.

People have shaken their heads and rolled their unbelieving eyes when they beheld me relocating a spider, ant, or ladybug out the door on a tissue. "Just kill it," they scoff. (Lord, we take this dominion over other creatures literally, don't we?)

At moments like these, my mind drifts back to the Brad Pit movie Seven Years in Tibet. His new friend, the boyish Dalai Lama, decreed that a cinema was to be built so the young spiritual leader could learn about the rest of the world. But, the construction was slow. As the workers dug the ground, they patiently and tenderly relocated each and every earthworm they found to a safe piece of ground. To them, each worm could have been their mother or a loved one in a past life. It was inconceivable for them to knowingly kill another creature. To them, even the life of a lowly earthworm was sacred.

Life is a miracle that our highly educated and most revered scientists still cannot define. We know when something is alive or dead and we can characterize each state. But, what is that animating life-force that is there one moment of life and gone the next in death? On that, the pundits are mute.

How does the sacred have relevance in your life? How empty do you feel...when the decibel-smashing world fades at night and you're alone with just your thoughts and feelings? Is something missing? Does the silence make you anxious? When you consider your life, is it precious and meaningful to you - or just a series of unending things to get done?

Like, sacred, reverence is another seldom-used word. We might revere celebrities or Nobel Laureates, but are they worthy of reverence? Reverence: to attribute honor and abide with humility. Reverence is our deepest knowing of truth. It requires self-lessness and self-fullness. To have reverence for another is to own the sacredness in yourself.

Spiritual teachers have embodied this humble truth throughout the ages. Not better than, but equal to the honor all life deserves. In moments, when I get off the merry-go-round of daily distractions, my heart slows, my perception broadens, and I feel such a deep love for all life - even the spider. We share an incredible gift. To be part of this tapestry we all weave a strand at a time. Adding our own unique colors and textures to life's patch-work quilt.

Step back every now and then and remember: you are a miracle. With such a gift given to you, what do you intend to give in return? It is my deep honor to reach through the filaments of cyberspace and find your hand at the other end. You are a sacred being and I am in awe of your presence.

In Joy Karen

(c) Karen Wright all rights reserved

Ethics cannot be based upon our obligations toward [people], but they are complete and natural only when we feel this Reverence for Life and the desire to have compassion for and to help all creatures insofar as it is in our power. I think that this ethic will become more and more recognized because of its great naturalness and because it is the foundation of a true humanism toward which we must strive if our culture is to become truly ethical. ~ Albert Schweitzer