WALKING SOFTLY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21278, 3 September 1932, Page 6 (Supplement)

WALKING SOFTLY

AWARENESS MOMENTS THAT REVEAL ' i •' ■* | I BT AMORT STRATTON Xo two of all the innumerable millions %-ho walk the road of lifa walk it in quite the same way. Youth trips along with confident jubilant step; middle life treads the road • with less animation, but with greater steadiness; old age slows to the pace of thoaghtfulness and reverie, as of those vrho are tired after a journey that approaches its end. These, of course, are generalisations, subject to the inevitable exceptions; for the pace of the walker, of whatever age, is influenced, if not decided, by the experiences that befall him on the journey. Only to a few is it given /to attain the unbroken step of soldierly efficiency throughout the whole journey. And we may thank providence that to fewer still is it given to stride througji life with that callous robustness which clears everyone and everything out of its way, appropriating, in the journey, all the worldly goods it can lay its hands on, and, in satisfaction of an insatiable <go, giving no consideration to those it has dispossessed. If the number of such undesirable wayfarers seems to be increasing, we may find the cause in our twentieth-century civilisation, with its mad encouragement of the chase for wealth. There is infinite pathos in the fact that obviously they have not grasped the purpose of the journey and that th;ir utter .self-absorption renders them cieaf and blind to the enlightenments with which the road is strewn.

Walking Wisely In this involuntary pilgrimage of ours those >vho walk wisely walk softly. It is so bis a thing—and yet so smallThis walking softly through the crowded days. . , Rearing the cloak of patience, the warm shawl , Of quiet understanding of Iwe s ways. But they walk neither wisely nor softly who do not recognise the supreme experiences of life when they come. Recognition of theise times of visitation, however, is not possible, except to those whose minds and hearts are finely sensitive to the deeper things of Nature and of life. Their coming is sudden and unexpected; the times often unlikely: the occasions seemingly commonplace. The shocks, the tragedies, the failures; the achievements, successes and exultations of life are not the most frequent, nor necessarily the most patent of. experiences. Our days are full of quieter moments charged with infinite meaning and significance. The sudden sight of golds "and browns in mellow autun>D, the roar of the sea upon the rocks,, the first glimpse of the face of the one who is to be the beloved —a flash of insight, a marvellous second of awareness and realisation, and " life is never the same again." The wise know these moments for what they are; moments of visitation, and, because of them, henceforth ; they walk softly.

Awareness Of all the moods of the spirit, that- of fllmple " awareness " is the most precious, ii'et for some reason involved in the inhibitions of our human nature it functions rarely and precariously. When it comes we "find ourselves suddenly at the heart of things. We see ar.d we understand. To he vividly " aware " for one blinding moment is to be touched to a ne*w humilitv that sends us on our journey through the days with a softer and more reverent step. . The «sgerience comes in different ways to different people. Music lovers may meet it in rich, unfamiliar chords of music struck suddenly. The religious may meet it in some moment of rapt devotion. Nature lovers may find it in pathless wood, or on lonely shore. The place of its happening is never forgotten. The mental maps of those who pass through the recurring experience are strewn with stars which indicate the occurrence of the supreme event. .Just what is it that has come to pass in these places ? It is difficult to describe, but far more difficult to explain. My own most frequent moments of awareness come, in a curious way. The perfume of honeysuckle wafted suddenly upon my senses will/ bring ine to a standstill, more often than not with a lump in my throat. Why? I do not know. But in these moments of experience I seem to hear the Voice which one of the earth's great ones heard in the presence of unfathomable mystery: "Take thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou staVdesl is holy ground." Moments of awareness are august. 1 ney should be met reverently. But they come so unexpectedly that they mostly find us unprepared. The divine condition cannot be induced, can hardly even be anticipated ; but it can be wooed and waited on with humble mind. The soul's inner moorings can be kept simple and flexible. Readiness and expectation can become habits of the heart. Let me repeat that the pace of the walker on the road of life is influenced, if not determined, by the experiences that befall him on the journey. The most precious of human experiences come to us in those all too rave moments of awareness in which we learn to. walk softly And to walk softly through life is a desirable thing. Gentleness adds to the peacefulness of life. It; is not. possible always to be aware. The world is too much frith us for that. But our moments will come. The whispers of' Mother Nature are always about us. The beauty of the earth is for ever spread before us. The infinite sea and the infinite sky are vocal with a music that waits only our own moment of receptivity. The love that lies in human eyes will thrill to our awareness. Even our dreams, cherished through failure and disappoinment, or our other dreams, never possible of fulfilment, may touch our hearts to new understanding, and our feet to » gentler pace. All my life I'll sofllier. sadlier go. For my dream's sßke. :i