The Meaning of Life
What is the meaning of life? ... The great revelation had never come …
Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations,
matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.
-Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
It is that time of year when the verdant hills and colorful blossoms speak to the renewal and rebirth that spring offers us. Stopping to smell the flowers can put us into a mindset of wise contemplation, including reflecting on the big questions like, 'what is the meaning of life?' as Katie does in this month's newsletter. May you find the time to stop and take a deep breath somewhere beautiful.
Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.
Joan and Katie
Springtime in New York is a wonder. Maybe it’s all the years I spent in California (most of my life), but I am amazed every year when the cold, hard ground and the bare, ghost-like trees give way to astonishing colors and canopy as has happened in the last two weeks. The feeling for me is a bit like skipping to the ice cream store when I was a kid, only with a lot more beauty tacked on. These moments of joy hint at the meaning of life only because we seek them out, immerse ourselves, and appreciate the splendor nature can deliver. Virginia Woolf goes further with her wisdom about the meaning of life involving, “little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.” She adds an important dimension, one of surprise, where we might be lifted out of darkness whatever that may mean on any given day.
I read an Unsung Hero story from NPR about a young woman who, back in the seventies, had a frightening experience when she missed her Manhattan train home to New Jersey. She entered a telephone booth in the station to call her husband and alert him that she would be late. When she turned around to exit the booth, it was surrounded by a menacing group of men. Just then she heard a man, seemingly quite agitated, yelling as he walked toward the phone booth that they were going to miss their train. The men surrounding her parted and the well-dressed stranger opened the door, grabbed her arm, and continued to shout about missing their train. Once she was safely on her next train home, he disappeared. The story had a profound effect on her even as she recounted it 50 years later.
Not long after reading this story, a friend told me of a similar experience from many years ago while riding her bike at dusk in the northern section of NYC’s Central Park. As she came around a corner of the main road, a group of young men blocked her way, forced her off her bike, and were about to toss her bike aside when another rider came around the corner and confronted the young men. The gang eventually allowed them both to go on their way.
The same week, another friend relayed a coincidental meeting after being side-swiped on a California freeway an hour away from home. A good Samaritan and witness pulled over to see if she needed help. As he walked toward her, she realized she knew him. He was a friend and law associate of her recently deceased husband. Since he had not recognized the car, he was as surprised as she was that they ran into each other under such circumstances and so far away from familiar territory. He assisted her in navigating some challenges with the driver who had hit her, both on the scene and in the weeks to come.
In our own search for meaning, “illuminations” will rarely come in the form of audacious and daring rescues, or courageous interventions, or even in the grace and timing of wonderful coincidences. We must look for enlightenment in the ordinary. Like the rescued woman from the phone booth said, “…an unwarranted, unnecessary kindness. It reminds me of the connection we all have at some very deep level and it is a wonderful feeling,” – that was her take-away and it is available to all of us who are willing to be on the lookout for the little daily miracles. (Katie)