I Found God!

So much for mystical Mondays - today, I found God.

All mystical traditions I'm aware of point to what is beyond words, and advocate direct religious experience rather than abstract theological speculation. So, today, following the way of the mystics as much as the restlessness that comes with a beautiful day in the middle of Jerusalem's winter, I ditched my Zohar and Hasidut classes and wandered into the world that God has tended to in these ceaseless winter rains.

I walked to the nearby field that Jay and I frequently picnicked at, meditated in, and cut through when it wasn't muddy. It's one of the few places that you go in Jerusalem where you lose the relatively clean, gridded city as a reference point and are cast into the chaos of scattered boulders, ungroomed grass and pine-needles.

Though it's cold here, winter is a life-giving season (unlike it's counterpart in the Midwest and Northeast). The rain (and more recently, thunder and hail) has blown the whole field, which was full of dry grass and thistles only weeks ago, into brilliant colors, and scattered wildflowers in its midst.

When I went to the field today, I took some pictures of one of my favorite flowers, whose name I don't know, but whose brilliant hue contrasts dazzlingly with the rich green of the grass that surrounds it (here are all my pictures of the field). Well, hopefully my discipline will increase even as the weather gets nicer.