Purity and Reflection

At the Baltic Sea - Southwest of Rügen island

Reflection is such a wonderful word. It is a noble, beautiful word - and it is noble and beautiful in all languages. It is noble and beautiful, because the idea behind the word and in the word is noble and beautiful. I found this definition in the Webster Dictionary 1828 as "the act of throwing back", "the act of bending back" and "that which is reflected". The reflection of ideas. The reflection of talents and qualities. The reflection of light or colors. 

When I walked the beach at the Baltic Sea today on a cold Spring afternoon, I listened with a quiet heart to the coming and going of the waves, unrelenting, incessant, orderly. The same and new, each moment. Coming and going, peaceful, clear, and unjudgmental. Pure being. For me one of many of Nature's masterpieces.

And then I noticed in between the reflection of the clouds on the beach. The water abrading with each wave the beach just enough for the reflection to appear. A mirror in the sand. 

With this little discovery I could suddenly see the connection between reflection and purity. And I have access to Christ Jesus teaching within the beatitudes: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for thy shall see God."

Purity is needed for the reflection to appear - every dust particle swept away, every void between elements filled, a reflective tier, the plane prepared to reflect the light. The beach turned into a parable - nothing is between God and man. Purity defines the relationship. Pure thoughts reveal the origin of man and show our innate worth. And I experienced an immediate healing.

I remembered a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke which I hold very dear and I was reminded of a blog post I had written about "Know the image".

And I pondered this glorious hymn from a new Christian Science Hymnal. Reflection and purity. "Pure and innocent and free".

​God created us in His own image,  
All the universe is His creation too;  
He created us as His reflection,  
Filling us with wisdom, bold and true. 

Life is made for living to the fullest,
Spirit made us knowing who we truly are,
Knowing how to see reality,
Pure and innocent and free,
Made in the likeness of our God. 

This clear view of man is perfect,
Seen in all the radiance of light;
Here we find our nature revealed,
Spiritual and whole in God's sight.
(Hymn. 482)

At the Baltic Sea - Southwest of Rügen island