LOOK AROUND

"I think, therefore I am....Cogito, ergo sum," said René Descartes.

"I AM THAT I AM," spoke the Burning Bush to Moses

Both are authentications of the Divine Presence.

Our thinking, thoughts, consciousness are paramount in manifestation, perception, and our connection to the Universal, but is it the only way to authenticate the Divine?

my mind is

a big hunk of irrevocable nothing which touch and

taste and smell and hearing and sight keep hitting and

chipping with sharp fatal tools

in an agony of sensual chisels i perform squirms of

chrome and execute strides of cobalt

nevertheless i

feel that i cleverly am being altered that i slightly am

becoming something a little different, in fact

myself

Hereupon helpless i utter lilac shrieks and scarlet

bellowings.       ~ e. e. cummings, Portraits VII

What do you feel when you see hear, touch, smell, taste something so fantastic your whole life seems to make sense? It brings words to mind you never thought you had, descriptions and adjectives you’ve never used, memories you had long misplaced? There's a book I love called “A Natural History of the Senses” by Diane Ackerman. She is quite the prolific author of two dozen highly-acclaimed works of poetry and nonfiction, many New York Times bestsellers, The Zookeeper's Wife (a 2017 movie starring Jessica Chastain), and a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for "One Hundred Names for Love." Ackerman is the epitome of curiosity and imagination. Her thrilling observations urge us to live in the moment and to wake up to nature's everyday miracles and her work is addictive. Today I'm using some of her quotes and readings to authenticate the Divine in all – our June theme.

In a mere ounce of air, there are 1,00 billion trillion gyrating atoms made up of oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, each a menagerie of electrons, quarks, and ghostly neutrinos. ... Sometimes we marvel at how “calm” the day is, or how “still” the night. Yet there is no stillness in the sky, or anywhere else where life and matter meet. They are always vibrant and aglow, full of volatile gases, staggering spores, dust, viruses, fungi, and animals, all stirred by a swirling and relentless wind.   ~"Vision" chapter

When you look at the stars, the moon, the expansiveness of the sky / the universe, a flower, a child, your loved one, or a sweet treat, you may stare in amazement of its power and beauty – your emotions soar, yes?You may think, “A higher intelligence must be present!”

Each of us are a unique beholder of creation, an authenticator of a design that is both super natural and metaphysical beyond our present comprehension, even though science and scientific theory attempts to explain it all.

When you look in a mirror, you will see the face of a predator; not to capture or eat other animals though that ability is there as well, but to gather light, pick out important  images, focus on novel sites, and pinpoint them in space and time to follow them, we have the ability to be a walking stereoscopic binocular

What we see are prey, not in order to feed our bellies, but our minds, that's the power of our sense of vision. If that is not from a Divine intelligence, I don't know what is. Helen Keller wrote:

Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived. The odors of fruits waft me to my southern home, to my childhood frolics in the peach orchard. Other odors, instantaneous and fleeting, cause my heart to dilate joyously or contract with remembered grief. Even as I think of smells, my nose is full of scents that start and awake sweet memories of summers gone and ripening fields far away.

In 2014, researchers in a Science magazine article concluded that the human nose can distinguish at least 1 trillion different odors, way beyond the previous estimate of 10,000. Whether it's your favorite fruit pie or flower, fresh cut grass, sea or mountain air, or the pheromones of your mate; a human nose has around 400 scent receptors. For example, when the smell of coffee wafts through a room, specific receptors in the nose detect molecular components of the odor. That elicits a series of neural responses, translating into inward or outward cry's like “Thank God” or “Where is it?”. Or it engages the action of the salivary glands and creates a GPS-like hunt for its location. Smell brings out both the imaginary and the memorial in the brain. It can act as an informant of a person's profession or hobby, habits or previous locale; and with food – the sense of taste attaches itself. Rev. Kelly Isola, a Unity minister, wrote some tips for increasing your spiritual sense of smell. Here's two:

• When you connect with God's presence, what scents or fragrances come to mind?
• With every deep breath in today, let it be a reminder of being more open and alive, to knowing God as real, authentic, and attentive

If the sense of smell is not from a Divine intelligence, I don't know what is.

If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.  ~Nikola Tesla

What happens when you hear Mozart or Miles Davis, Dolly Parton or Dean Martin, Bach or the Beatles (depending on your taste). How about a baby laughing, a light rain at your window, a crackling fire, the sigh of your lover, or the purr of your cat? For me, a Debussy composition delights all of my senses - when I hear them, I feel enlightened, open and ready for expansion and transformation. The sounds of nature, both pleasant and not, are a symphony of proof that Spirit wants to be heard; in all the languages for all Its creation - animal, mineral, vegetable, aviary, reptile, mammal, and plants...yes, even plants.

Using highly expensive and sensitive acoustic sensors, similar to the ones use to detect cracks in bridges, researchers are able to catch the ultrasonic blips and pops of a plant. They may not sing like the one in “Little Shop of Horrors,” but it has been proven that their vibrations are a language to each other and the insects that feed upon them

The Universe's sound, translates closely to the "Aum" chant you may hear at an Ashram or the beginnings of a Yoga class. Though we cannot truly create the sound of the universe by a chanting; we can produce a vibration sympathetic with the electro-magnetic ones of the cosmic hum. Listen to this:

If sound is not from a Divine intelligence, I don't know what is

Touch, by clarifying and adding to the shorthand of the eyes, teaches us that we live in a three-dimensional world.   ~”Touch”

When we touch silk, velvet, grass, or each other, we can miraculously heal hurt, ease pain, save premmie infants, and change the circumstances of health and well-being. Touch informs, touch educates, and touch loves. Touch is not only by skin, but what we do when we pray or commune with the power and presence of the Universe.

If touch is not from a Divine intelligence, I don't know what is.

More from Diane Ackerman:

A creamy blur of succulent blue sound smells like week-old strawberries dropped onto a tin sieve as mother approaches in a halo of color chatter, and a perfume like thick golden butterscotch.

Isn't that beautiful? All of that is a description of Nature saying “hi...” in the synesthesia of life. Only 2 - 4% of people have the neurological condition called synesthesia in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your senses, but in many ways, all of us are synesthetes.

Sacred rituals use the senses to connect to their very being and essence. The Torah (Exodus 20:18) describes the Hebrews gathering to receive the scrolls with Moses at Mt. Sinai to hear visions and see the voice of God. Dr. William Bushell of MIT's Department of Anthropology and Columbia University's American Institute of Buddhist Studies tells us, "In fact, synesthesia may not only be associated with the highest spiritual states, it may be necessary for them." 

Dr. Eben Alexander wrote in "Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey Into the Afterlife" about the blending of his senses during his near-death experience in a 2008 coma when he wrote, “Seeing and hearing were not separate in this place where I now was ...I could see the surging, joyful perfection of what they sang.” After months of analysis and discussion with other scientists about his experience, Eban Alexander concluded, “It is crucial to remember that my ultra-real experience deep in coma, in the realms of the Gateway and the Core that I describe in my book, did not happen in my brain, or in the physical universe, but they really happened in a more fundamental reality – the dwelling-place of Divine consciousness, spirit and soul.”

What more proof do you need to authenticate the Divine in all and through all? Just use your senses. Stay aware and awake, and allow your senses to inform you, inspire you. All you gotta do is look around

Affirmative Incantation

Today I put in place a guarantee for a great day:

    I promise to be centered and grounded

    And if I slip, I pledge to stop and get grounded and centered once again

I commit to being clear and concise with my intentions

    And I shall use the lifetime warranty from the Universe 

To assure me of my bodily vitality, 

To vouch for my heightened mental and creative abilities, 

And to confirm my absolute willingness to awaken to all inspiration around me.

This pledge deposits gobs of Peace, Power, Beauty, Joy, Love, Light, Life, and Wisdom in my mind and heart,

All I require for a wonderful experience at work, play, and love throughout the day  

I amplify, clarify, and intensify my best self today with this guarantee 

That will fill me, thrill me, and stay with me morning, noon, and night.