“We see that when the activities of life are infused with reverence, they come alive with meaning and purpose. We see that when reverence is lacking from life’s activities, the result is cruelty, violence and loneliness. The physical arena is a magnificent learning environment. It is a school within which, through experimentation, we come to understand what causes us to expand and what causes us to contract, what causes us to grow and what causes us to shrivel, what nourishes our souls and what depletes them, what works and what does not.”
– Gary Zukav, The Seat of the Soul
I’ve written about the simplicity of life in Nicaragua; as images of our trip flash through my mind, I think about the authenticity of the people I met. Their simple lives – in outward appearances – rattle my brain as I slip back into my California home, bursting with the comforts of American life. At once, I wonder how they live without, and how do we live with?
What I come back to is the simple reverence they have for each aspect of their lives. The daily routines of existence- the preparing of food, the washing, the tending to children and animals, the care for their property-has such meaning and purpose. Nothing is taken for granted, little is wasted. And instead of a sense of lack, happiness exudes from their smiles, generosity pours from their hands and hearts.Their simple life, in reality, is much more complex than it appears.
Perhaps it is we who are simple, after all.
In Nicaragua, we learn what nourishes our souls.
We expand.
We experience reverence.