Ireland Trip

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won
as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

Van Morrison "Into the Mystic"


I have had two truly transcendent moments in my life. The first one occurred when I was 22 and had wandered into the very bottom of the Grand Canyon in the absolute black of night. At that moment, although I was utterly alone in the world, I experienced a kind of spiritual communion with the universe. A sense of oneness, of the interconnectedness of things that has both haunted and sustained me for many years. I've always wondered about that feeling and wanted to recapture the power and beauty of that moment.


This Saturday afternoon, deep in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, I found this feeling again. Looking out over the endlessly rolling green hills, in a moment of pure quiet and stillness, I absolutely felt in the deepest recesses of my being, that I was a part of something bigger than myself. This feeling was mystical and magical. A merging of all the powerful emotional forces that have lay dormant inside of me for so long absolutely overwhelmed me in this moment. In this moment, all my sadness, joy, courage, fear, loneliness, hopes and dreams utterly imbued me with a sense of understanding. For a brief moment I lost all semblance of myself, while also getting a quick glimpse of all the things I can accomplish in my rapidly fleeting time here.

Eventually a fellow tourist rambled into my mystical moment and asked me to take her picture. Such is life. Here was a fellow traveler in need, and I was in a position to help her. Although I was temporarily annoyed by this interruption, I also appreciated the sense of metaphor. In my profession I help fellow travelers who have come a long way, but also need a little help to make sense of where they had been. Perhaps this was a cosmic reminder.