Lightly Child, Lightly

~ Live & Learn

I was sitting on the seashore…Unconsciously to myself, I looked at a film of sand I had picked up on my hand, when I suddenly saw the exquisite beauty of every little grain of it; instead of being dull, I saw that each particle was made up on a perfect geometrical pattern, with sharp angles, from each of which a brilliant shaft of light was reflected, while each tiny crystal shone like a rainbow. The rays crossed and recrossed, making exquisite patterns of such beauty that they left me breathless… Then, suddenly, my consciousness was lighted up from within and I saw in a vivid way how the whole universe was made up of particles of material which, no matter how dull and lifeless they might seem, were nevertheless filled with this intense and vital beauty. For a second or two the whole world appeared as a blaze of glory. When it died down, it left me with something I have never forgotten and which constantly reminds me of the beauty locked up in every minute speck of material around us.

~ Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell

Notes:

  • Photo: via Zen > WabiSabi
  • Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”

32 thoughts on “Lightly Child, Lightly”

  4. There you go again, David, leaving small treasures of immense beauty on our daily, deeply ordinary paths, just waiting to be found. Thank you. Thank you.
    Nan

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  5. There you go again, David, leaving small treasures of immense beauty on our daily, deeply ordinary paths, just waiting to be found. Thank you. Thank you.
    Nan

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  7. “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”

    ― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

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  8. One of the exercises in our SoulMatters groups is to do this very thing—look at something, state at it, until the wonder & beauty of it lights up your insides. I’ve been staring at my sleeping, old, grandpa-cats; watching how their breathing moves their fur like a fan folding & opening. Everything slows down. I feel light & full of Golden love. I recommend the practice whole-heartedly.

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  9. It’s those bejewelled raindrops left behind on leaves when the sun comes out after a shower of rain that always does it for me. Also, I go with Sandy Sue’s one, except I would apply it to my sleeping dog, with her shimmering chocolate coloured fur 🙂

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  10. I envy those who can see things in 4-D. I believe in the moment…THE moment…THAT moment…when something greater than you shows its colors. It often catches you off guard, so pay attention. The reward is worth the wait.

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  12. How beautiful! Aldous Huxley was an adventurer of mind and spirit. He began with peyote, and continued to explore everything that intrigued him. We can open up our doors of perception via dreams and meditation–it’s all there welcoming us, powers and abilities built into us.

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  14. I have loved Huxley since junior high school. Read much of his work back then and ‘should’ revisit it now. I, too have had such numinous experiences. And yes, they pass, but never wholly leave our consciousness. Lovely share, David.

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  15. I have not read Huxley either. Yet another to add to the ever-expanding list thanks to you and your fabulous readers…
    Like Sarah, I love to watch the drops of water on a leaf… or sit on a hill, watching the wind make patterns in Zeke’s fur.
    I say whatever works for each and every one of us to stop and take a moment…

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    1. Yes, I’m tuning in more often to all of that beauty. Your thought Dale reminds me of:

      I’ve been thinking a lot about how seldom we’re in the moment, how we’re always thinking about something else, making plans, remembering…but occasionally we get flashes of being right where we are.

      ~ Richard McGuire, in “Sharing a Sofa With Dinosaurs” (New York Times, September 25, 2014)

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  16. Interesting post. I recently purchased Opening the Good Eye, A Path to True Seeing, by Michael Wood, of the Miksang Institute of Contemplative Photography. More and more of us in the West are “awakening” to the natural wisdom found in Eastern aesthetics, philosophy and religion. I’m hopeful this knowledge will influence my photography. Look forward to following your blog.

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    1. C.S., thanks for sharing. Your comment reminds me of:

      Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even thought they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing we call human existence. You know, all mystics … no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion – are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well.  Though everything is a mess, all is well.  Strange paradox, to be sure.  But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep.  They are having a nightmare.

      ~ Anthony de Mello, The Spiritual Awareness of Anthony de Mello  (Jazzybee Verlag, 2012)

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