WHY DO WE CRY OVER NOTRE DAME?

By Dagmar Spremberg

A few days ago Notre Dame was burning. My first reaction was also one of shock and sadness, because I am European and have been to Paris many times, where I also visited this beautiful church.

But why do we cry over Notre Dame?

As I followed the posts on social media of all different opinions, nothing really resonated with me. Yes, I can see that there is a hypocrisy in collecting millions for the fund of rebuilding Notre Dame by mostly private investors, while there is so much money needed to help end so much misery in the world….but I don’t want to get into this here.

We cry over Notre Dame, because when you enter a building of this size and history, you are immediately in awe. You FEEL its sacredness, the history, you feel the energy that has been put into it.

Over 800 years old, imagine what it took back then to create this church and many other historical buildings of this importance. It was pure art and craftsmanship, based on sacred geometry and those buildings were erected in the most powerful places. It was not build just with labor of work, it was build with hope and faith and a strong dedication to church, religion, power and control.

We long to experience the Sacred. We long to feel something that is bigger than us, call it god, the universe, love, mysticism, something we cannot control and which rather invites us to just surrender to its beauty and powerful energy.

Maybe this is why yoga has become so widely popular too, because yoga connects us to the Sacred, to something higher. It gives us hope, we feel more deeply connected to the world around us. In the best case, it creates also a deeper connection to ourselves, our dreams, our hearts.

Do you think it will be same when they will now take all the money to rebuild Notre Dame? Will it have the same soul, the same power? To be honest, I doubt it. But it doesn’t matter. Because its message is already here for all of us, to ask: Why do I cry for Notre Dame? What is sacred to me? How do I celebrate the Sacred in my life?

It’s always there, not just in Notre Dame, it’s in every flower, every tree, every yoga practice, every love making, every moon rise, every sunset……and it’s your job to stay open to receive it, to connect to it, to celebrate it.

How will you celebrate the Sacred today? Leave a comment below…