Observations placeholder
Jefferies, Richard - The Story of my Heart - I looked at the hills
Identifier
021626
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
RICHARD JEFFERIES. From The Story of My Heart (1883; Swan Library edn., 1936),
I looked at the hills, at the dewy grass, and then up through the elm branches to the sky. In a moment all that was behind me, the house, the people, the sounds, seemed to disappear, and to leave me alone.
Involuntarily I drew a long breath, then I breathed slowly.
My thought, or inner consciousness, went up through the illumined sky, and I was lost in a moment of exaltation.
This only lasted a very short time, perhaps only part of a second, and while it lasted there was no formulated wish. I was absorbed; I drank the beauty of the morning; I was exalted.
When it ceased I did wish for some increase or enlargement of my existence to correspond with the largeness of feeling I had momentarily enjoyed.