Reflections on the Sacred

          As I move well into the fourth quarter (in football terms) of my life, I find myself wondering more and more about what awaits me in the end zone.  I have always been a firm believer in an afterlife, but I haven’t been privileged with a mystical vision or a near-death experience to give me a preview of coming attractions.  Yet, I sense that we don’t have to see beyond our earthly horizon to connect with the spiritual realm.

          The sacred is all around us; like for a favorite radio program, we only have to tune in.  For me, I see the divine in a glorious sunset, a Gothic cathedral, a Beethoven symphony, the Sistine Chapel, and the many examples of creative genius all around us.  More and more, though, I find it in people and their capacity for selfless devotion to others. 
          Still, the daily news pummel us with stories of atrocities in Africa, murders in our inner cities, greed in our boardrooms, corruption in public office, and a growing culture of drug abuse and sexual predation.  Sometimes I wonder if human nature is defined more by hate, violence, selfishness, and concupiscence than by innate goodness.
          I have to believe, for my own sanity, that human nature is deeply flawed, but not irredeemably corrupt.  I suppose that its legacy dates back to the time when man evolved into a moral creature who discovered the difference between right and wrong.  But I also think that despite our depraved proclivities, we humans have been blessed with extraordinary individuals throughout history who have shown us that love and kindness raises us all above the morass.  Their example taught us that we can encounter the sacred not only in nature, art, and religion, but also in mercy, compassion, loyalty, devotion to duty, and personal commitment.   Few are called to acts of heroism, but all of us are capable of experiencing the spiritual side of our beings even in the most ordinary aspects of our daily lives.  
          Like I said, we only have to tune in.

Strange is our situation here on earth.  Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.  From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men – above all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends.  – Albert Einstein