Gaining Understanding–Now at Principle Gallery, Alexandria
Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe. Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe.
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man (1955)
Again, enough said.
This time the words come from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) who was a Jewish theologian, philosopher, author, civil rights activist, among other things. I have seen him referred to as a mystic.
Let’s just say he was a man who fit on many labels. He certainly fits here this morning.
Here’s a song that also fits well. It’s A Sense of Wonder from Van Morrison, released back in 1985.
Redtree Times 