Heroes Not Zombies

When I looked at this photo again today I thought it was a picture of the night sky.

But it isn’t.

The “stars” are little white lights strung between the branches of the trees in a forest and if you look a little more carefully you can see whole lot of snowdrops on the ground.

I took this photo many years ago, one February, in Cambo Estates Gardens, in Fife. I don’t know if they still do this (I don’t see any mention of it on their website today) but they used to have these night walks through their woodland amongst thousands of snowdrops. They lit the gardens with gorgeous coloured lights, and at the end of the walk you could have a hot chocolate in their cafe. Delightful!

We humans are an imaginative and creative species. We love to create experiences which stimulate our senses and stir our hearts.

Beyond the mundane, the “efficient” and the “practical” or “utilitarian” we access a deep world of the invisible where we encounter emotions, ideas, thoughts, fantasies, meaning, purpose, wonder, awe, and love.

We engage with the invisible through art, music, dance, storytelling and poetry. We engage with the invisible in shared experiences. We live in the invisible in our intricate web of relationships.

How much richer are our lives because we go beyond the superficial and the utilitarian?