“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra, 2018.
A few years ago, I found myself in a Record Shop looking for a particular CD. My heart gave a skip when I heard John Lennon singing ‘Imagine’! I could not take another step but listened intently to the melody. It held memories of other times and places when and where I had heard it. Secretly, I held a longing and a hope that the lyrics would become reality one day in our world.
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one.
Such moments stir memories, awaken imagination, and evoke stories formed and buried long ago. The lyrics of “Imagine” surfaced emotions and images that my body had held for years. Now the moment had come when the story needed particular attention. Something seemed to say, ‘do not dismiss me’. I withdrew to a quiet place to listen to the inner voice that held the full story. By doing this, my emotions calmed, and I was left with something unsaid and a sense of something unfinished. Before the end of the day, I went for a walk aware of what happened earlier in the day after listening to ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon. On my return, I noticed that something had shifted inside me. I took some deep breaths and said, Amen! It was the unfinished, ongoing story that invited integration as T.S. Eliot expressed:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
“Little Gidding” Four Quartets, 1943.
Margaret Doherty, RNDM
Image from Marist Press, Website, 2023