Friday Dispatch: After the Eclipse
Two palms, one heart
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
~ Albert Einstein
Friday greetings,
Sometimes I write in silence. Sometimes I walk and listen only to the sounds of the world around me. And sometimes, I listen to playlists on Spotify, my own and those others have curated.
Here are a few of the latter I’m loving right now:
- Creative flow music (piano - instrumental - aaaaaah)
- A Jewish Morning by
- Soulful Flow Yoga Playlist by my friend, Anjali Budreski
*
Today, I’m (re)sharing the words I wrote on Monday a few hours after the eclipse, along with a spring haiku that holds just some of my immense gratitude for being alive.
Life is full of details and moving parts right now, and zeroing in on the small-not-small moments keeps me connected to the “why” of it all.
As always, I hope my words might bring you a little bit of connection to the beauty and meaning of your existence. I’m so glad you’re here.
*
The eclipse was wild.
Here in Amherst, we had 95% coverage. The quality of the light was so strange – like an errant twilight. The temperature dropped considerably. And what most impressed me was just how much light 5% of the sun still provides, compared to the total darkness my kids experienced up in Burlington.
There really is something about natural phenomena like this that brings people together. We are hungry for awe, for beauty, for wonder, for reminders of how miraculous it is that we get to be here. How can humans be so powerful and so small at the same time? It's so marvelous what we can experience as earth-dwellers, and what we can create alone and together.
This is why it's so tragic and unfathomable that we cause so much violence to the planet and our fellow living beings.
Imagine if everyone in the world woke up one day, had all the resources they needed, and felt a spark of possibility and optimism. Imagine if everyone in the world woke up one day with the thought, I am safe. Imagine if everyone in the world woke up one day with the question: How can I help? Imagine if everyone in the world woke up one day with the knowing: I am loved and protected. Imagine if everyone in the world woke up one day with the intention: May I do no harm.
Imagine, imagine.
If only imagination alone could eradicate hatred and fear. Or maybe imagination is the steepest practice of all, one we must return to again and again, no matter how much we may want to burrow into our baser instincts. I don't know how to separate realism from utopian dreams, but something in me says it's important to hold both.
Two open palms. One heart.
*
Shabbat Shalom and love,
Jena
Spring Haiku
"There really is something about natural phenomena like this that brings people together. We are hungry for awe, for beauty, for wonder, for reminders of how miraculous it is that we get to be here."
One of the things I appreciated about my eclipse experience was the communality ... I loved being with people (but not too much of a crowd), and even since the sharing of what people experienced, in totality or not, has been a centerpiece of my week.
So very beautiful, Jena. Thank you!