It may be a strange way to begin a blog site, but I couldn’t help but be touched by a commentary that described Abraham Joshua Heschel’s (Jewish Ecumenical Scholar) near-death experience.
Several years before Heschel’s death he suffered a fatal heart attack, and upon gaining consciousness said, “my first feelings were not of despair or anger. I felt only gratitude to God for my life, for every moment I had lived. I was ready to depart. Take me, O Lord, I thought, I have seen so many miracles in my lifetime… I did not ask for success [in my lifetime]; I asked for wonder and you gave it to me.”
I, too, ask for wonder and curiosity. Who is God? What is this world for? Who am I to God in this world? Our greatest problem, Heschel writes, is not how to continue but how to return. How do I return to my truest self? How do I ‘come home’ to my deepest desires? I might suggest that life is about a great homecoming — an inner journey to the peaceful God-place within that informs and sustains our humanity.
I imagine I will be using this blog to ‘work back,’ starting at the end of recent experiences and asking how they contribute to my continual quest to return home. I’ve begun at the end; come with me on my journey if you like. Like Heschel, I hope to proceed with a heart full of gratitude and wonder and the courage to ‘depart again.’ Exciting things are ahead.
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