Richard Olmer

Does spirit reside in the places that we visit or pass through or does spirit reside within us … or are both true? When I walk through the natural world along a mountain ridge, a sandy beach or through a green wood, I seem more apt to be accosted by spirit. And yet, when I sit alone in my room, spirit often creeps into my consciousness.

 

Where does this sense come from … a very real feeling of being with a close, dear friend? Do I carry a fellow traveler along with me … is it some deeper part of me … or is it a memory of my creator or is it my God? Somehow, it seems so much larger than me … it feels immense and filling every empty space of creation … and yet, it feels so intensely personal and loving.

 

This spirit that I encounter is possibly a grandfather that I never knew or a lover that I have never met or the God that I speak with every day but have never seen. One day I heard this spirit call to me when the ravens yelled at me, “Richard, Richard.” Often, I hear nothing or perhaps feel a warm breath on the back of my neck.

 

Then, there was the day when a cloud swallowed me and I became a part of the cloud and stood there with my feet on solid rock looking into the face of the cloud and wondering why I was chosen to have this experience.

 

You cannot convince me that there is no magic in this world. The quiet coolness of the cloud embraced me and I became the cloud. I was one with the cloud and I was reminded of a near-death experience where I was alone, surrounded by whiteness and so close to God that I could almost touch him or her.

 

I wonder at the many times that I have been given special gifts like snowfall in the woods when all sound seems to be erased and the quiet is so pervasive that you hear yourself breathing and even those close to you. Or the day that I looked up to see a barred owl looking back at me and wondered which of us was the most surprised.

 

Richard Olmer can be reached via e-mail at columnists@sequimgazette.com.