Echoes of Origin and Destiny

...and some days, you couldn't feel more alive. Outside it is cold, rainy, and generally smug. Inside...well...

I knew that something was up when I got moving this morning; there was an inexpicable yet completely palpable sense of joy in the air. Later, having a chance to speak with a friend, encourage him, and build him up, I suddenly found myself in the possession of wings. A little sweet Opeth on the car-stereo driving home, a few green lights, and the outside gloom could not have been a bigger antithesis of my heart.

This was far beyond having a "good day," however, because truthfully, it wasn't the best of days.

Why does the simple act of helping someone open the doors within themselves lead to deep joy? What are these moments when we feel like we've just conquered the world, when in our realities nothing substantial has happened to trigger such feelings?

And when you know for certain that your "feelings" go well beyond simple chemical reactions such as energetic cheerfulness or smugness, what do you call them then?

I've been thinking a lot recently on how our shared humanity -- those similarities which sociologists show us in every culture -- point not only to a shared biological origin, but a spiritual/metaphysical one as well.

In the Ignatian spiritual excercises, one journies to the center of his/her humanity beginning with the contemplation of what God IS, and therefore what the creatures created in his image are/should be. When I participated in the excercises, my spiritual director at the time went in the opposite direction: We began at what we are as human beings, and moved down these shared paths to our shared maker. Both paths are equally valid, both often share the same two-lane metaphysical highway.

Both also point to the deeper feelings in life: those feelings which are in fact only heavenly consolations, or as I like to call them: "echoes of origin and destiny."

How often are we conscious of the different between soul and spirit, and the difference between our pscyhosomatic intellectual musings and the movements of the soul? King David, in seeking God's will for his life, would often ask questions of his soul. "Why are you so downcast, my soul?" As a friend of mine recently pointed out, artists share art on a different level, a soul-to-soul level. Our souls are distinct parts of our personhood, and we choose to let ourselves reverberate either with them, or against/independent of them.

The process of searching your soul is a tasking and often painful one: hence loud music, television, and every other human invention to drown out the beautiful stillness within. The 'highs' of the soul are extremely gratifying, hence the human invention of narcotics to mimic this effect.

Some days, you couldn't feel more alive. The "why" doesn't matter. It's the fact that God loves you enough to remind you of your mighty destiny is what is important at these times. Be thankful -- feel -- and live.