Rachel,

What a delight to find your insightful thoughts today. I’m struck by the event you experienced when you were young, and by its power and impact throughout your life.

Just last evening I was reading Emerson. I admire him, although his prose is written in a way that’s hard for me to decipher. Nevertheless, I return from time to time, in part because I was introduced to his essay “Self Reliance” about 20 years ago in a series of classes I took on the essay itself.

One of the things that has hung with me from those classes was his focus on experience and, more succinctly, the deeper, inner experience which he laments that we consider ourselves fortunate when we have one such experience in an entire life. He maintains that as great as the singular experiences are, we should, ideally, be having those kinds of experiences constantly.

Like you, I’ve had the benefit of certain ‘experiences.’ To state they were powerful is a vast understatement. Because such things are rare, as Emerson himself bemoaned, it makes them all the more marginalized by society and even family and friends. Yet, the insights and perspectives that can be gained can be vastly underestimated.

And I agree, personal examinations — even daily or on-going ones — can be very positive. They can lead us to explore deeper. I always hope when I do that I can find something of value, and to more fully experience the eternal.

Thank you for taking the time to write, and for sharing your invigorating perspectives.