Nature's opus

Nature’s Opus

The van’s tires crunched along the dusty gravel road and slowly stopped announcing we’d arrived. Around the horseshoe bay, sunlight softly kissed the shimmering waters encrusting its surface with millions of sparkling faceted pinpoints twinkling and dancing on each ripple. I remember thinking, “What a privilege to experience and enjoy this day!” “How could anyone deny that there is a master architect, a structure, an intrinsic order in this universe”? Yet the crowning jewel of the day was still to come…

Like squadrons of fighters returning from a night mission, hugging the Bay of Fundy coastline, flying low across sapphire blue waters, suddenly appearing en masse in a cacophony of peeps and whirring of wings. In serpentine fashion, writhing, rising and falling, in flashes of silver, white and muted browns and grays, they moved as a single entity. Wheeling and turning they hurtled forward as though commanded by an invisible conductor in exquisite celestial symphony. It was a display of flying brilliance that even the most accomplished pilots can only dream of achieving.

Scanning the ocher rocky shoreline with binoculars, more Sanderlings magically materialized amidst the crowded confusion on the high tide line to rest and replenish for their marathon non-stop flight to South America. Estimated at 100 per square meter, there were easily 100,000 or more birds. “How do they find their way here to this same spot year after year”? “How do they navigate to the same feeding grounds and then onward to their winter home South America”? “How do they fly clustered together and not collide with each other”? With a brain no larger than a quarter of the size of a human thumb, they and succeeding generations of offspring accomplish this journey twice a year. “What consciousness lies behind this”? “Who orchestrates nature’s opus”? “Who is the composer writing these magnificent scores that we enjoy if we stop, watch and listen”?

Spending quiet time in nature, one becomes surely more aware of a natural intelligence veiled in the apparent chaos of our universe. Silently observing the rhythm and majesty of creation, we enjoy the “ah-ah” experience providing proof we are bound eternally with everyone and everything in it. Nature becomes euphoric when we awaken to her majesty and opens a door offering so much more. It opens naturally to us because it is our birth right; we are a part of it. Like a garden flower’s first bloom, quietly without fanfare, with clear definite purpose, a miracle unfolds before our eyes. We begin to glimpse what is possible within us as well. We share the same planet, molecules and atoms. The same intellect lies dormant around and within us; we are a part of that same universal fabric and intelligence.

Each of us is a tiny imperfect example of creation charged with the same prime directive – “Create”. It’s our respective duty to discover what our life’s purpose is and how to fulfill that very special reason we came here this lifetime to perform. Karma, that’s possible? Dharma - that’s certain! Further consider, it’s also why we chose to be here and who we are with this lifetime. By spending time each day in meditation we too can tap into this universal intelligence. Each of us is gifted with a set of unique abilities and skills that no-one else has. Developing them promises to re-focus our energies on what we are here to do and what is important for us to do with our lives. The answers are found only within the silent gaps between our thoughts during meditation. Who is the author of your opus, your life’s work? Who writes the musical score and directs the orchestra? Can you hear the music – your music?


Namaste

Jim