"Enlightenment, don't know what it is"-Van Morrison

I was listening to "All Things Considered" yesterday to an article about a new middle/high school that will be opening in New York based around video game design. The theory is that to be literate today is to understand systems and the interrelations of things and video games are all about systems. Sounds like a great way to make learning relevant for teens; particularly teen boys.

One of my favorite people, my friend Marion (mother to my dear friend Helen, who I mentioned seeing at the Adrian Belew show a few days ago) gave me a set of Chinese calligraphy cards with the meaning of each character in English, as well. There are probably 40 or 50 2x3 inch cards in the set. I decided that every day I would pick one randomly from the deck to post on the wall above my desk and that word would be one I would ponder for the day. Today, the third day of this new practice, the word was "Enlightenment". Hmmmm.

The first thing I think are the lyrics to the above quoted Van Morrison song. But then I begin to really think about it and what I come up with is the knowledge that when I am enlightened I am filled with God's Light. I am aware of God in all things, in my relation to God and to all things; in the system of God's world-how all things are of God and connected. When I have moments of enlightenment I understand that the physical and mental boundaries that separate us from one another are temporary and that what unifies us is what is eternal: God, the One.

Carrie Newcomer a singer/songwriter (who happens to be Quaker, although I just recently found that out) used to be in a folk band, Stone Soup, that played around Indiana back when I lived in Muncie a couple of decades ago. Their music is out of print and I've long ago lost my cassettes but a line from one song runs through my head often: ..."And we're all links in a chain, yes we are." I can hear the clear simplicity of Carrie's voice in my head and I wish I could remember where the lyrics go before and after.

Enlightenment is being aware that we're all links in a chain.