There is this wonderful moment during infancy of gradual awareness of truth. Infants are completely internal. Needs are recognized and satisfied and sleep ensues; such is the life of a newborn. When they begin to notice there is something else, it is beautiful. Their eyes open a bit longer; they engage the life that is around them, they wiggle things.
An astounding moment happens when they wiggle out of their blanket and see their toes for the first time. Completely mesmerized, they cannot get enough. They will shake off those blankets whenever they can just to get another peek. As their feet move, so does the rest of them, including their hands. One day the two collide – contact.
I do not remember my own first contact, yet I can imagine the astonishment; two places experiencing sensation in the same instant. Thus begins the exploration – “How far do I go?”, “What other parts of me exist?”, “What can all these parts do?”
We are like babies who’ve discovered their feet. Oh, we’ve seen feet and watched them with fascination for eons; but now we’ve had first contact. We have discovered these feet are not somebody else’s – they are ours; under our control.
Our anger and force creates violent and abrasive movement. Our tenderness and gentility looks like a fluid dance. These feet will move in whatever way we intend. They can stomp or they can pirouette.
It’s a shock when you realize you’re connected to something so foreign and far away and strange looking. It’s a new thought and maybe you weren’t ready yet for these ideas of unity. Perhaps you were content just watching these goofy appendages, seemingly doing their own random things. Once day you’ll tire of just watching – you’ll want to see what these babies can do!
