Mind you, I'm not talking about that kind of invisibility I enjoy seeing in a magician's act, when the magician makes a rabbit or his assistant -- which are visible -- vanish and then reappear. Air is more than that: I never see air itself at all.
Air thus becomes a reminder to me that I should not just look upon the surface of things, but should also remember what my eyes cannot see. The 16th century spiritual director Francis de Sales (like many religious teachers) instructed Christians that when they meet someone, they should not evaluate based on that person's outward appearance. Instead, De Sales said, look into that person's heart. Indeed, I have seen many actions of loving people, but has anyone ever seen love itself?
However, air is not just a reminder to remember that which cannot be seen. It is also something that sustains life itself. In the creation story in Genesis, Chapter 2, after God forms the human out of the ground, God breathes into the human's "nostrils the breath of life" -- air -- and the human comes to life! (Gen. 2:7) Also, in both the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible, the words for "breath" and "spirit" are identical.
Moreover, it is not simply that the air we inhale sustains our physical life. Fresh air can also revive our spirits and invigorate us. After visiting Lake Tahoe, Mark Twain quipped that "three months of camp life on Lake Tahoe would restore an Egyptian mummy to his pristine vigor... [because] the air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine."
Unlike any other feature of Nature, invisible air touches our bodies everywhere. When the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wanted to find a way to speak of God's feminine presence, close and ready to nurture us at any moment, Hopkins wrote of the...
"wild air, world-mothering air,
Nestling me everywhere,
That each eyelash or hair
Girdles."
Hopkins evokes not just the softness of air (able to touch eyelashes without harming them). He also says, "wild air." Yes, it is true that air sometimes becomes too wild, too powerful, even turning into a hurricane that is able to sweep our unprepared houses away. But, with time, the hurricane stops.
And once that terrifying possibility has died down, air remains all around us. Invisible. Life and spirit, just waiting to be inhaled.
~~~
Do you recall a time that air helped revive your spirits? When and where?
(The lines by Gerard Manley Hopkins are from
"The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air We Breathe.")
4 comments:
Oh, yes, for sure! When I have been hot and tired, a light breeze on my face (unexpected) was such a relief.
I also like going to the beach and feeling the strong breeze off the waters. It makes me feel like I am on vacation and have left all my work behind for awhile.
I enjoyed this topic.
I remember a day in summer under the trees in the woods lying on a hammock and falling fast asleep with the breeze blowing across my wet bathing suit - relaxed, trusting in all of nature, surely knowing that I was safe. More than 50 years ago now, and yet I still remember the very breath of the air - protecting me.
I experience being touched by grace when I feel a slight breeze on my face, especially outdoors on a sunny day. Kay D
Recently I was driving on Toddville Road along Galveston Bay with my windows down, and smelled salt air. It had been awhile since I'd visited family in that area. The smell brought me a feeling of calm well-being related to my positive experiences at the beach over a lifetime.
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