Beauty & Solace
Hubble telescope image
by Lois Huey-Heck
“Solace is the art of asking the beautiful question, of ourselves, of our world, or of one another, in fiercely difficult and un-beautiful moments.”
—David Whyte inConsolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words
David Whyte’s writing about solace caught my ear and heart earlier this year. He writes with forthrightness—bluntness even—as he names the realities of life and death saying, “Solace is not an evasion, nor a cure for our suffering, nor a made-up state of mind. Solace is a direct seeing and participation; a celebration of the beautiful coming and going, appearance and disappearance of which we have always been part.”
His wisdom met me in my own dark night of the soul. I had experienced three significant deaths, a cancer diagnoses for my partner, the end of my son’s marriage, and his return home with his own young son. In this dark night, I felt a loss of intimate communion with the Beloved. I lost my sense of interdependency with the rest of life. Somehow, I forgot that all of life is part of the Oneness; part of Divine Love. In this state of profound aloneness, my worst fears for the world and all the innocents were confirmed. How could I move beyond a sense of why does beauty and solace matter? I returned to Consolations to read, “Beauty is the harvest of presence.”
I have found a new practice of presence by walking along the lake each morning. It’s so simple. I drop off my grandson at school and then meet the world as I am. Walking along the water’s edge, I return to myself. I return to being consciously alive in this very place. I see the nuances of the seasons changing not only day by day but sometimes moment by moment, as the sun breaks over the mountain and melts the frost on fallen leaves. I remember myself as part of this great web of life. I see, hear, and touch the world and know myself to be a point of light; part of the great Oneness.
There are millions and millions of points of light from each person who makes a choice to live consciously, especially in these troubled times. I am heartened by this. Their words, images, music, ideas, and actions are gifts that inspire me to carry on. As I shine my own light and connect with all the points of light, I know myself in for the long haul—the work of Tikkun Olam. Restoring the world takes a long time.
Lois Huey-Heck
seeks to find, participate in, and seed community experiences of deepening into the fullness of our true selves and then asking the discerning question, “What is mine to do?” She values community experiences that help us lean into the long view of Spirit—and the imperative to BE love—as vision and practice equal to the precariousness of our times.
Lois worked at Wood Lake Publishing for 30 years, was a program mentor for the Pacific Jubilee SoulGuiding program, and was director of spiritual nurture at Naramata Centre. Now Lois offers spiritual accompaniment to her multi-generational household (age six to 83) as well as individual spiritual direction and online retreat leadership.
Read about Lois’ spiritual accompaniment practice here.
