Beauty in the madness

Beauty in the Madness

Copyright 2016 Don Ray

On a recent sunrise contemplative walk, I experienced a most curious peaceful insight.  It arose in part in response to a recent afternoon spent at an acquaintance’s house where he had me watch innumerable old video clips of war in its innumerable forms, documentary video clips, movie excerpts, compilations, technology of weaponry, cavalry charges, black and white movies with handsome heroes charging into a wall of spears or a hail of bullets, etc., etc., a compendium of testimony to the madness of the human condition.

 It is not an occasional madness, not an aberration, not an exception; it is the norm of human behavior.

It is madness in infinite guises, irrepressible in its ubiquitous persistence, and perennial in its uninterrupted appearance through the ages.

Yet through this madness, just like galaxies arise from colliding black holes, like life emerges from comet impacts, like fuzzy bunnies arise the rubble of dinosaur bones, Spirit survives and grows and is born anew and is born again. 

It is the chaotic madness that in some incomprehensible way gives birth to the opportunities for Love and Spirit. 

The madness must be accepted, not denied, and it is to be resisted and opposed and healed to whatever degree possible.  But in a striking perception this morning I at least saw the chance for beauty to arise from the madness.  As the chaos of the jungle and the randomness of the eroding canyons and the explosions of the volcano and the tangles of the forest give rise to life and diversity, so the madness of the human condition gives rise to the individual opportunities for Love and Communion.

The jungle and canyon and mountain look far more beautiful when viewed from a distance as opposed to struggling for survival while trying to navigate them. 

So too I can far more readily perceive the beauty of this mad human species when I view it from a safe distance, for a moment, a contemplative moment, a momentary respite from responding in ongoing interaction with the madness.

Copyright 2016 Don Ray