Wonder

Poet Walt Whitman wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.”

Whitman, like Rumi, discarded the pretense. Awakened, Whitman sees the fullness he contains, and recognizes his own godliness, a vastness of multitudes. This knowing happens in a moment, a precious eternal moment in which all things are interconnected, alive, and infinite.

We cannot know this fullness when we hold ourselves to be so small… small of identity, small of character, of personality, and of vision. So often it is easier for us to see the wonder of this largeness outside of ourselves.

"People travel to wonder at the heights of mountains
at the huge waves of the sea
of the long courses of rivers
at the vast compass of the ocean
at the circular motion of the stars
and they pass by themselves without wondering"

~Thomas Aquinas

Lesson to myself: Wonder further. Don’t pass yourself by. Wonder at your own “I am.”