Trapped in the day-to-day routine of going to work to pay the bills that go with living comfortably, the magic of being alive can fade. Losing that connection between the wonder of it all and life's ultimate purpose can lead to depression. Our modern Western lifestyle disconnects humans from the broader view; it is granular, focused on many small tasks - catching the bus, booking appointments, getting things mended or new things bought, constant demands on our time and the temptations of instant gratification through entertainment. And the guilt that procrastination brings.
Losing sight of God is not about losing belief in God - however you understand God. Nor is losing sight of God about losing belief in an afterlife. I intuitively believe in the existence of some higher, metaphysical imperative that drives the unfolding of the Universe - a destination, a purpose. And I intuitively believe in the continuation of one's core consciousness from one life to the next, even though intimations of this are fleeting and do not manifest themselves to me all that often - on average a few times a week. It is like walking with someone in the forest; every now and then they will be hidden by trees and bushes. The further apart you are walking, the more often this will happen.
If I lose sight of God it is because of distractions; if I catch sight of God it is through moments of realisation of a bigger space and time stretching forward and backward [just then caught an unbidden, sudden flashback to the newsagents/sweet shop on Oaklands Road from my childhood] - and moments like that make me reflect on life's progress. It is more, far more, than just random firings of neurons in a brain that evolved in response to environmental factors!
The Lenten discipline to post daily focuses my mind more intensively on spiritual matters than during the rest of the year. Yet thinking back over the past 12 months, even in mid-summer, when the living is easy and it's generally hard to get motivated, contact with God is there. It may be through watching the sun set over the DK50, it maybe staring up at a starry sky on my działka, but that contact remains. It's part of the answer to the question "how much spirituality do we need?"
As I wrote earlier, I learned last year that everyone of us who seeks God will find God in their own way. Losing sight of God along that way is natural.
It's not so much losing sight as the vision becoming blurred and distant, but bidden or unbidden, it snaps back into focus. Only question for me is - often enough?
This time last year:
Jabbed!
Działka update
This time four years ago:
Łódź is a film set
This time five years ago
Contemplative imagery, Ealing and Warsaw
This time 10 years ago:
Baffled: my first visit to Jeziorki's Lidl
This time 11 years ago:
In vino veritas?
This time 12 two years ago:
Are we getting more intelligent?
This time 13 three years ago:
Lenten recipe: tuna, chickpea and pesto salad
This time 14 years ago:
Coal train sidings, Konstancin-Jeziorna
This time 15 years ago:
Jeziorki from the air
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