Monday, June 29, 2015

Experiencing Serenity in New York City


Serenity in the City

New York City Vacation

Sunday Evening May 24, 2015

 

            There are occasionally those days where life seems almost perfect. You find yourself in a moment that you understand will pass, but you want to enjoy it for every moment you are there. That was how I felt on the late Sunday afternoon and early evening of Sunday May 24. I was on the north end of the iconic Flat Iron Building. The weather was gorgeous, in the low 80's or upper 70's. The streets were full of people but few seemed in a hurry to get somewhere. They were already there. New York City's sidewalks can be filled with people walking hurriedly to reach some place before some deadline. But on this Sunday evening it was as if the sidewalks were simply the means to reach one of the many places in New York City where there are tables and chairs, cafes and small gathering places where people can chat around a table or read a book or sit and absorb one of many varied senses of this city called New York. Many of the people I have known in life seek out the friendly atmosphere of nature and imagine New York City to be as horrid of a place as imagination could conjure. Many of my religious friends shun the city. But that does not seem Biblical to me. The Bible starts out for sure with the creation of what we call nature and humanity is created dwelling in a garden but as we reach the latter pages of the Scriptures they describe God's people seeking a city, a city where there are more people than can be numbered; a city where God and humanity dwell in harmony. I suppose the feeling of a sense of serenity along the streets of New York City made me imagine a future in that city built without hands.

            A part of the serenity for me was my being near the Flat Iron Building. I love this building’s architecture. I love its uniqueness, as it filled what was a narrow space between converging thoroughfares.


            Looking at the streets running beside the Flat Iron Building one realizes that the architect simply let the streets bordering this triangular square shape the building. Inside the building which I haven't yet gotten to see I have heard there are unique offices carved from the shape of the narrow building. A second photograph shows a perspective emphasizing the narrowness of this structure.


 

            I stood to the north of the Flat Iron Building for these photographs. Once one turns around and looks north from the Flat Iron Building there are lovely places to sit at a table, and there are street venders and concession stands representing varied New York City food establishments. Not knowing that there were so many food choices in the area I had already eaten. But as one who loves a good cup of tea I was delighted to discover that the Flat Iron Building was home to an Argo Tea Shop on the ground level. You can see people relaxing near the tea store. It is Sunday afternoon and there are no cares needing our attention. Was this a foretaste of paradise?

 


 

            I looked up from my place on the street below to admire the intricate designs woven into the face of the building far above the street level. It was built at a time when architects wished to create beauty as much as they desired to build function into the office buildings they designed.

 


 

            Looking directly north you could see people sitting at their tables. This day was meant to be enjoyed with nowhere to go except to be here and why would one want to be somewhere else? These are rare moments when time seems to stand still and perhaps it would be a horrible evil to not sit there as time seemed to stand still.

 


            Some had brought books to read, some were chatting with friends, some were singular people and some were couples standing, walking, sitting, finding something to snack on or sitting between the Flat Iron Building directly to the South and looking towards the Empire State Building to the North. I can hardly imagine a better place to be that sitting between the Flat Iron and Empire State Buildings on a perfect day in the late afternoon during one of the early tastes of summer. It was late afternoon but as the sun set and as night began to cover the city, it seemed as if the lights of the city took their cue from the descending darkness that now was their moment to put on a magic show for anyone fortunate enough to be sitting in the audience around the tables near the streets of midtown Manhattan.

 


 

            I didn’t want to leave this scene. I didn’t want the moment to change. But the things that are near perfect in our world; whether a beautiful summer evening, a serene moment, a flower in the glory of its bloom, the strength and beauty of youth, the wisdom of the mature man or woman, are all things destined to be set forth in their moments to fade away following that wonderful moment. Sometimes we hang on to a memory and remember the moment, a moment fondly remembered. There springs a hope for a future day of a hoped for paradise that will be eternal. Is that hope merely a fond illusion or is it the reality that enables us to put up with all the labor, sufferings, and sorrows that pierce even the most joyous of lives. Was the serenity of a Manhattan evening a moment of illusion or the foreshadowing of a true destiny? I know that on this evening in Manhattan I felt a sense that this is something of how life was meant to be.

I felt a memory of this serenity a few evenings later as standing upon the Empire State Building I looked down towards the streets embracing the sidewalks next to the Flat Iron Building. Standing on the eighty-sixth floor with the lights of the automobiles flooding my camera lens the photo I took was more surreal than real. But perhaps it was the perfect photograph to represent a remembrance of an evening when I had felt almost absolute serenity. Serenity is something experienced in a moment that can never be recaptured by the best memory. Memory gives only a blurred sense of the experience of serenity. So it seemed as if the final photograph of the Flat Iron Building turned surreal by the lights of the automobiles was the fitting good-bye from the Flat Iron Building telling me that it had given me an evening of serenity that could only be remembered with in a surreal form. Was the serenity something to be lost or was it the foreshadowing of something we might know in a way we could never now imagine. A blurry picture is my memory of the experience of serenity and the blurry image is also the image by which I see the hope for a future eternal moment of serenity.

 

 


 

            But perhaps this light flooded photograph was perfect for capturing a memory of night of absolute serenity. For the experience of serenity is as if one is locked into a perfect moment of time where the memory of serenity is like a photograph that is surreal trying to capture something that no longer is. But we try to capture it anyway because there is a hope for a foretaste of paradise. Sometimes the memory of serenity and the hope for a serenity to be experienced in paradise are what keeps us going in a surreal world where images are blurred.