Horror & Epiphany

I was thinking about some of the horrific, cataclysmic events that pop up often, and that seem to shape our lives. The JFK assassination was one of them. Add in the murders of MLK and RFK and right there is a tale of the sixties in a nutshell.

Think of all the wars over the years -  wars big and small, and all the death and human wreckage those wars spawned. Think of the hurricanes, the tsunamis, the floods, those natural events that killed, devastated and uprooted. Think of all the little personal deaths we all endure.

If I were a pessimistic person, I'd say that it's the negative events - the Pearl Harbors, the 9/11s that have the biggest impact on our lives. If it's big and momentous and memorable, almost by definition, it must have wreaked lots of havoc on lots of people.  

So, is it true that we are ruled and bound by calamity? 

If I were an optimistic person, I'd point out that happiness and enlightenment are always available. Maybe in a blink of the eye. These conditions can descend at any time, any place.

Maybe the difference is one of scale. The horror, the calamity comes to us complete and whole and we all experience it pretty much the same.  These events are "public" events. Lots of people experience the same thing.

The moments of epiphany, of happiness, of connectedness to the universe are essentially "private" events. We experience them usually alone. They can be powerful and life-changing too. But they also seem insubstantial, ephemeral and can vanish in a blink.  And when you blink, you wonder if they really, really happened at all.