Today marks the birthday of Albert Einstein, a man whose intellect is legendary and whose contributions to science have shaped the ways we think about our world.  March 14 (3.14) also is Pi Day, a day to celebrate the mathematical constant that helps us define a circle.  It was first celebrated in San Francisco in 1988 when people walked in a circle and then consumed fruit pie.  I know what you’re thinking — any excuse for eating pie has to be a good thing!  So celebrate today — Einstein and Pi.  How appropriate that they should share the day.

If Einstein were alive today, he would be 131 years old.  Can we even begin to imagine how differently we might view our world if he had continued to bring his curiosity, intellect, and passion to us for another fifty-five years?  When he wasn’t  doing science, or maybe it was while he was doing science, Albert Einstein gave a great deal of thought to the limitless potential of life and of the world around him.  He valued imagination, vision, compassion, and giving.  The mind of the man was only a tiny part of the enormity of his persona.  Einstein once said:

“We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.”

Wow.  If this remarkable man with the unbelievable intellect thinks that his experience is only one thousandth of one percent, can we even begin to fathom the limitless universe we live in?  In honor of Einstein’s birthday, and of Pi — which allows us to understand something as beautiful as a circle, I say let’s tear down a wall or two and see what lies beyond the limits we accept as true.  And don’t forget the pie — make mine pizza!

Now what, you may ask, does this have to do with Beauty?

After my last post on exactly that subject, I had the delight of participating in a drum circle with some wise women — and the topic was just that, Beauty.  To be honest, it was the upcoming event that directed my thoughts to the subject, and for that I am thankful.  It has been a nice place — a beautiful one — to spend a couple of days.  We drummed our unity, our harmony, and our femininity.  We heard words about beauty and added our own.  We spoke of the beauty in nature and the intrinsic beauty in our own souls.

When I read Einstein’s words — one thousandth of one percent — and I thought of what he said as it related to beauty, I was overwhelmed with the realization that if we all are connected at soul level to all of creation, and if each of us carries the essence of Truth that called us into being, that we carry immeasurable beauty in each one of us; and it is our delight and our duty to reflect that beauty for all the universe to see.  I challenged you yesterday to think about what beauty you would bring to the world each day.  If you are a woman, I would like to share with you a unique opportunity we have that was brought to light by one of the beautiful women at yesterday’s circle.  It is about mothers; but it really is about any woman who feels the passion for the beauty in her world and lets it overflow as a legacy for the next generation.

Beauty’s Legacy

It began

The first time

My Mother

Said, “Look!”

It’s pretty;

And Pretty

Embedded itself

Inside my own soul

In the spot

I call Beauty.

· · · · · · ·

And the door

Once flung wide

Stands ajar

As my senses

See color

Hear laughter

Feel breezes

Taste snowflakes

Take in the aromas

Of Spring.

· · · · · · ·

I pick up my thread;

Weave a color

a sound

a sensation

That spreads

my soul’s tapestry,

Sparkling

And fragrant.

Depicting the dance

Of my Truth.

· · · · · · ·

I turn to

My daughter

Say, “Look!”

It’s pretty;

And, sharing

my threads,

Watch her, too,

Begin weaving.

The Truth that lies

Deep in her soul

· · · · · · ·

Her door,

Once flung wide,

Stands ajar

And it beckons

And calls her

To Beauty.

She nestles in close,

And our hearts beat as one

As we rock

In the arms of the sea.

©Pamela Stead Jones 2o10

As we think of our daughters and think of our mothers and our grandmothers and their grandmothers, let us ask ourselves again, what beauty will we weave in our world today?