Have you ever experienced a holy moment?

[bakaKanadajin]

Anyone who's seen the movie 'Waking Life' will better know what I'm referring to. But for those who haven't I'll attempt to elaborate.

A holy moment is loosely defined as, I suppose, a meditation of sorts. By taking a minute or two to look directly into someone else's eyes, or to observe an animal or plant going about its natural business, or to simply take a mental step backwards within the mind and 'breath' in the totality of a situation as raw data; to observe while void of ego, judgement, opinion or knee-jerk reactions, is to start the holy moment.

I would say it's achieved when that faint but tangible connection is formed between the observer and the observed, such that a palpable 'gravity' settles and somewhere in the recesses of the mind the observer tacitly realizes they are one with the observed and equal in worth. Only the observer would know if they've honestly found it. It's pretty heavy sometimes.

I would hazard to guess that prior to the advent of clocks, ringtones, frenchfries, etc., our ancestors operated in this state of mind quite often. I don't think it's one of these exotic, new-age, neo-Zen badges of honour either. I think it's just a return to whats natural and real, and everyone can do it if they're open to it.

[Mars Man]

Yes, I have and still do have such moments. There appears to be some room of give-and-take on just what could be included in such a state or lack of activity in that the degree of interpretation allowed by definition can vary. It would be very hard to deny that there is, in fact, some interpretation happening in the brain.

I think that such a state of mind which allows for this 'moment of raw data intake' is the base for humankind's search through the otherwise seeminlgy opposing fields of religion and science.

That latter point had been brought kind of well by the author of The Mustard Seed (although there were many other points which were obviously off in that book). It could well be that our modernity has overly weakened that ability. I would not say that there is not any room to substantally argue against that understanding, however.

[Sarapva]

I've had times where I've felt that all the world and people are "in it together", so to speak - during these times it seems that all the fighting going on doesn't really have a place. I read once that this kind of moment of connecting is the same as getting in touch with the spirit world. I usually feel much more compassionate toward people after times like these, which makes me think it's a good idea to let go of the busyness of life now and then and become a kind of "sponge" for new insights. I haven't seen the movie "Waking Life", but I'll look for it - it sounds interesting.

[Chi65]

Hm, I once made an installation in a University in Kyoto, called "memories of moments".

The points were rather simple:

a few separate mountains, made from sand, covered with white silk, that had a burnt hole on top, out of which several little found things were sticking, each one for every separate mountain. Those mostly ordinary things in others eyes, were meant as initiations, reasons, pushes for the aha-effect(moment), top of the mountain-feeling or being right within or now etc., so to say, and can be different for everyone, according to their meaning for that person.
From every top there were two red threads (I often worked with that material, since I got it as a present in a japanese factory, who supplied shrines and temples with them, for those knots for example), going to two opposing poles, one was water, the other one fire, but made from two parts of a nice traditionally paperwrapped and then laquered red cake-box, that I found on a jumble sale. One (black) inside was filled with leftover pieces of red silk, representing fire, the other inside with water.
Those poles were finally also connected on a ring on a kind of stage in that hall, the rest was in front of the stage and built up on two doorblades, that I found outside and covered with white silk for a base.


My life is full of such moments, and I often found wonderfull bases to talk about it around the world. It an happen all the time, one never knows.

No one had problems in understanding this.
But it was only one of many installations, that I made in Japan and Korea.
Some are very simple even.

For example one free hanging red thread going from the ceiling to the floor in a corner in a Ginza gallery in Tokio, but on every wall of the Gallery there were a few small white papersheets with very simple black drawings of two different kinds of lines. But wherever they met (and always only once on each paper), a red thread was going to meet this basic first thread, like tree branches (any way round you like to see it) on a stem.
Equally no problem in understandings.

People often thought, that I am asian, by watching the works, by the way.
If I have scanned the fotos/slides, I can include them here.

Its one of my favourite themes anyhow.

I have not seen the film either, but thanks for the tip!