This Veil over the Incredible Preciousness of Life

This Veil over the Incredible Preciousness of Life

by Shawn Tedrow

Sometimes I think we are walking through the most amazing Garden of Eden we could imagine. Second thought, I mean, who could even imagine this?

Look at the awesome fiery blazing sun in the sky that appears to rise to us each morning. Can you imagine what it would be like to see this sun as if all of a sudden it appeared to us for the very first time? I can see why civilizations worshiped the sun. I would if all of a sudden I saw it through the freshness of my eyes for first time. What an amazing event visits us each day!

Somehow a veil of the ignorance of taking beauty for granted covers our eyes as we walk this amazing garden together. Shouldn't we feel compelled to wake up each morning to watch this over the top event of the sun rising? How about when it sets in the horizon? Why would we ever consider missing its beauty?

But what about all these incredible millions of small things around us we see all of the time as we stroll along this garden of splendid spectacular beauty? If we saw each one of them for the very first time our jaws would drop in amazement. We would be like little children running around totally in-captured by everything. Look at this and look at that we would constantly be saying to each other.

I remember one time a very young child about three years of age from around the corner where I lived came to me with such a gleaming smile on his face. He said, guess what I have? I said back, what do you have? He then reached into one of his pants pockets and pulled out his hand with his palm side up with two slugs on it. I couldn't argue with his moment of beauty he was seeing. He was walking in this Garden of Eden.

Somehow we lose our eyesight with what is all around us. We hyper-lock into seeing something else and miss seeing this entire incredible garden we are living in. If this veil of ignorance was removed from all of our eyes we would be so enthralled with this garden that we wouldn't have any time to be greedy, fight, and make war. Look at this and look at that would consume our lives' attention.

Towards the end of Terrance McKenna's life, this veil of ignorance was removed. Terrance had three brain seizures one night. At the hospital, Terrance was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. There was an interview conducted with him about facing his time of death. It went as follows:

I always thought death would come on the freeway in a few horrifying moments, so you'd have no time to sort it out. Having months and months to look at it and think about it and talk to people and hear what they have to say, it's a kind of blessing. It's certainly an opportunity to grow up and get a grip and sort it all out. Just being told by an unsmiling guy in a white coat that you're going to be dead in four months definitely turns on the lights....It makes life rich and poignant. When it first happened, and I got these diagnoses, I could see the light of eternity, a la William Blake, shining through every leaf. I mean, a bug walking across the ground moved me to tears.

You can check out Shawn's other musings here.