Cosmic Celebration

It was an awe-inspiring day on April 8th when a solar eclipse captured the imagination of so many. How delightful to be united in community around a peaceful, beautiful, silent event sponsored by the Universe rather than an event sponsored by corporations. How refreshing!

A week after the eclipse I participated in an online meeting where we shared what the eclipse meant for us spiritually. For one it was a reminder that we live on a planet, evoking gratitude for our rare and precious Earth which sustains us in being and offers so much creativity. For another it was the feeling of unity as people from various offices in his building gathered outdoors to share something in common, spontaneously creating community. One couple who viewed the eclipse from the top of Monks Mound commented that they were delighted with a gathering of various ages, races, cultures, and nationalities in a spirit of shared wonder. It was a heart-warming experience for them. I viewed the eclipse from the bluffs at La Vista, feeling myself an intimate

part of what Thomas Berry called the great “cosmic liturgy”, reminding me that “The universe is a single, gorgeous celebratory event”. It was surely a high holy day from that perspective.

All of these eclipse experiences align with Thomas Berry’s understanding of Earth spirituality. He writes, “We need a spirituality that emerges out of a reality deeper than ourselves, even deeper than life, a spirituality that is as deep as the Earth process itself, a spirituality born out of the solar system and even out of the heavens beyond the solar system. There in the stars is where the primordial elements take shape in both their physical and psychic aspects. Out of these elements the solar system and the earth took shape, and out of the earth, ourselves…A spirituality is a mode of being in which not only the Divine and the human commune with each other, but we discover ourselves in the universe and the universe discovers itself in us. 

How blessed we are to have been alive for this respite from bad news. How blessed to unite in celebration without paying an entrance fee. How blessed to discover ourselves in the universe and the universe in ourselves!

 Photo Credit: Jeni Holland on Unsplash