Once again the wonder... I exist!
"The light died in the low clouds. Falling snow drank in the dusk. Shrouded in silence, the branches wrapped me in their peace. When the boundaries were erased, once again the wonder: that I exist,"
Dag Hammarskjold, Markings, 1955.
"Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse,"
Walt Whitman., from Leaves of Grass.
The shared sentiment between these two great men is the same that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel asked God for. He once said, “Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.”
Something that tours to places like Scandinavia does for someone is that it prepares them for the moment. Search our tours, we do quite a bit of things. Your vacation packages are filled! But we also try to make time for "relaxing time." This is time to sit and reflect.
Personally, these times are my favorite.
Sure there are a lot of places to go, but the best place to frequent is within yourself.
It is only in pointing to the "endless trains of the faithless... of eyes that vainly crave the light" is to remind us of that which eyes cannot see and where the light always shines (though it might seem as though it is always dark).
To conclude this reflection, let's end with a sincere hope for the wonder inspired by simply existing! You don't have to see Sweden for it, but you should go to Sweden anyway.