It was as if the sky cracked open and I became aware of being aware and in commune with the greater consciousness of life.

My first step was an experience of awe.

At the ripe old age of 15, I was playing football with some friends one autumn afternoon. It was a normal day of cool temperatures, deep long shadows and fading light.

At one point the ball bounced out of play. I went to retrieve it. As I picked it up and turned around to go back to the field I was confronted with and struck by a moment of universal reflection. In simpler terms, it was if the sky cracked open and I became aware of being aware and in commune with the greater consciousness of life. Martin Buber’s Ich und Du (I and Thou).

I returned to the game and asked my friends, “Do you not feel that something is missing?” “Throw the ball and play,” was the response.

This experience transformed my life and set me on the path of “searching.”

  - John J. Dumont, "In the Beginning" at http://spiritandplace.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/in-the-beginning/