Remembering Your Place

Ever since I was a little girl, I have felt a sense of power and oneness when standing beneath a starry sky. Of all the experiences I’ve had in nature, this remains the one which gives me a sense of solidity and surety in myself and my place in this universe.

As a child, my mum and I would sleep on the trampoline at night. We lived in rural Australia where the night skies are indescribably beautiful. The southern hemisphere constellations are forever etched within me, and I fell asleep many times as I wished upon falling stars. I have been immensely privileged to spend many, many evenings under unpolluted skies. And in this place of sanctity, I reside in overwhelming awe of a creative force field of which we know so little.

My thoughts constantly straddle this material world and the Great Unseen; and yet it is the invisible-the incomprehensible to human understanding-that holds me securely in the harbour of life. It might seem ironic that it is the very the stuff of existence-the ultimate in not knowing-which steadies me through choppy waters.

From whatever walk of life you come, no matter your creed or religion, if you can find yourself alone under a star-filled sky (especially away from man-made interruptions), you will remember your place. In this oasis of calm, there is freedom, truth, infinite wisdom, and an energetic force of good unlike anything that can be manufactured by humankind. When all around you seems hopeless, and the challenges of life insurmountable, try standing under the stars for a while. You are part of that immense magnificence.

Connect to this place over and over and over again and you will find a solidity not found in the news or material world.

In the words of Desiderata “You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should.” (Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann, 1927)