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Radical Amazement

10/02/2022 by Aruni

“Radical Amazement” *

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

“Our goal should be to live life 
In radical amazement….
to get up in the morning
 and look at the world
 in a way that takes nothing for granted.

Everything is phenomenal.
Everything is incredible.
Never treat life casually.
To be spiritual is to be amazed.”*

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

What a powerful
And seemingly
Impossible
Invitation.

Please,
Let us
Hear,

Heschel
Offers us
A
“Goal”,
Not
An
Outcome.

This is a direction
He
Offers us
During
This most
Complicated
Time
In
Which
We live.

A direction,

A practice.

Not to overlook
The hardships,

Not to
Transcend
The
Suffering.

But to give us
The courage
And the strength
To keep on.

To keep 
On
Practicing.
~~~
It seems
That
The more intense
Our “habitual” lives become
(and they are!)
The harder it is,
I think,
To see
The awe.

And if ever
EVER 
There were 
A time
To
Look
For the goodness,
The awe,
The perfection,

This might
Be
It.
~~~
Let’s ask
Ourselves,

Where is it
That 
We 
Are return
To 
Radical 
Amazement?

On the yoga mat?

In the woods,
The park?

Snuggling
With 
A child?

Your dearest
Animal
Companion?

For me,
For the
Wacky human
That is me,

I remember
Outside,

Sunrise,
Sunset,
Shifting
Light.

Stars.
Birds.

Nik the Dog
Fully communicating
With 
Those
Eyes…

What about you?
~~~
In looking through the lens 
Of radical amazement,
I found
This.

This returned me
To awe.

Oh, friends,
Please 
Watch:

~~~
How interesting and odd of me to offer us a mystical theologian like Rabbi Herschel in the same breath/blog as otters.  

I do believe he would appreciate my interpretation of radical amazement.  

~~~
If you are interested in more information about the biology of otters holding hands, here’s a link to 
A marine biologist giving us a bit of information, just a few minutes long:

 

~~~

And a song, to say goodbye:

Dear Friends,
Be safe
And
Well.

Let’s keep 
Practicing
Returning
To amazement.
No matter
How
Far away
We get,

Let’s keep
Coming
Home.

All blessings,
Aruni

~~~
*Abraham Joshua Heschel, was a Polish born American rabbi.  He was a leading Jewish theologian and Jewish philosopher of the 20th century, and professor of Jewish mysticism.

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