In Meditation the other night, as the muscles of my body began to relax and the rapid thoughts started to slow, a picture appeared in my mind's eye. I saw a stand of bare limbed trees; their branches reaching to the heavens. Majestic in their essence, all was highlighted by the bright sky. The trunks and arms of the tree were dark and leafless. The whole tableau appeared in black, white and shades of grey. The picture was perfect. Alive. The trees, the ground and the sky, were all part of a beautiful unity.
The scene then switched to a child looking up at the nighttime sky, staring at the stars in wonder. And I remembered.
When I was young, I often slept alone outdoors, listening to the sound of the night and looking at the sparkling stars until I fell asleep. Always allowed to do this, I don't recall my mother ever voicing concern.
We kept a roll-away bed in our garage that was brought inside for the occasional overnight guest. During the summer months, I would push it out onto the patio, and make it up with sheets, blanket and pillow. After donning pajamas, would then settle in for the night.
Those nights were magical. My imagination ran free. The sky was beautiful in its nighttime colors. My mind could not comprehend what I was seeing. The question of what was beyond what was displayed before me consumed my thoughts. I could not take in the idea that there could be anything without end. I reasoned that there must be something after the universe. Something more. What did come after the stars? A mystery, for which no adult could give me an answer. The desire to understand was great and never left me.
I now believe that I have the answer to the real question of my heart. It has greater meaning than the scientific theories or explanations offered. I now know what lies beyond. What fills up all the space of everything. What lies past what we can see or comprehend is God. All fabric of existence is encompassed by what makes up the entirety of it all. The Stuff of God enfolds and encompasses all the stars and all the voids. Ever present in all creation and all the spaces in between. Everything is part of the One. Earth, trees, stars, sky, All Unity.
Knowing this, one would think that I would never fail to be in union with those I share my life. And, would never fail to recognize the God within each one. But, I often get caught up in the unreality, the maya of human existence. Sometimes I forget, and only see the truth in abstract.