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In Honor of Invisible Things
Joanne Sales – December 2009

Gas, time, gravity. Spirit, space, electricity and love. Intuition, consciousness, energy, feelings & thought. Emptiness.

What do all these have in common? They are all invisible. We’re surrounded by invisible things! Scientists tell us that even matter will disappear if we get real close. “Stuff” is made of molecules, which break down into atoms, nuclei… hmmm… space and then… well, we really don’t know.

Nevertheless, there is a strong tendency in secular times to not believe in invisible things, or to at least cling to our God given right to ignore them. Invisible things, of course, function with or without our approval and belief, so it really shouldn’t make all that much difference. But it does. Our experience shrinks or expands according to how much invisibility we allow into our lives.

Besides, since the beginning of time, one of the favorite pastimes of humans has been to argue about whether or not invisible things exist. “Invisible” is a big topic, even in a world of materialists.

Personally, I tend to be the opposite of the Doubting Thomas of the Bible, who needed to see and touch in order to believe. In my cosmology, there is lots of room for invisible and impossible things.

My natural inclination to believe went off the charts when my first child was born. As I held him in my arms in all his perfection, it came to me as clear as day. This is impossible. Fully visible but clearly impossible. Where did this kid come from? But as my son stubbornly insisted on existing, I had to accept that the impossible had happened and needed a diaper change. Something which had been totally invisible had become manifest and was sitting on my lap. My lack of understanding had little impact on his presence. Here he was.

From the invisible to the visible. From the unmanifest to the manifest. My know-it-all logical mind gave it up. If this is possible, anything is possible, because this IS impossible but here it is. Babies come out of nowhere.

Ok… have it your way. Babies don’t come out of nowhere. Neither do electricity or radio waves. Neither do thoughts and feelings. Neither does life and love. But we don’t really know where they come from. Their Source is beyond the capacity of our hands to touch, our eyes to see, our math minds to calculate and our language skills to define. The Unknown is simply humongous!

How can we deal with something that BIG? Better yet, how can ignore anything that BIG?

Here is where the intellect steps in. The Intellect spends the day creating concepts to filter and bring order to the overwhelming amount of stimulus coming in every microsecond. Concepts are like folders; we group and file the almost infinite incoming data, dismiss some and revere others. Concepts are little for the sake of convenience. Once we have put the cosmos in boxes of concepts, we feel much better. It’s far easier to brush things off. Oh that? That’s an 800-year-old tree. That’s a baby, a bird, a star, a hand, a blueberry muffin. Holy Toledo! How can we ever think we understand these things? Our minds are playing tricks on us.

On December 21, the sun appears to make a u-turn, and the Light returns. December is filled with holidays (Holy Days) in every tradition. It is definitely a month to keep the Intellect under control, and give some space to the Invisibles.

A twenty-year-old, growing up in a sea of invisible electromagnetic waves, told me, “I don’t believe in God.” Interesting, I replied. Which concept of God don’t you believe in? Oh that one? I don’t believe in that one either.

If the Intellect shrinks the Mysteries down into boxes too tiny, we either become bored and cynical (like our young friend), or we have to dumb down our own intelligence to believe in them. Mysteries are not meant to be confined or defined. If you put Light in a box, the Light is no longer Light. The problem is not with the Mystery but with our concepts!

Concepts are expected to expand as we mature. At some point, the wisest response is to give up our concepts and be still. Beyond our concepts, the Mysteries remain. The Invisibles remain.

These holy-days were designated for us to remember what we don’t know and to honor it. What shall we do if tiny concepts get in the way? Charge ahead - there is light in the hills!

Just because someone captured some fire and put it in a box does not mean that we can’t fall in love with the Sun.