When The Divine Meets Man...

Montressa once again has gracefully allowed me to blog some thoughts about a recent trip I had. I have noticed if you are looking the divine manifests everywhere around you. Sometimes, even with warning, it can catch you by surprise. What happened to me is such a case.

I was in Barcelona in Catalonia Spain. We were having a tour of the city. We were scheduled to see Guell Park. A place that started out in failure. The real estate developer was going to sell approximately 65 lots on the side of a hill. The famous architect, Gaudi, would develop it. Short story, he sold one!! Fast forward, viola, Guell Park. A fascinatingly designed park. This became my introduction to this amazingly talented Spanish Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi.

By the way the English word gaudy comes from his designs! With that, in the words of the tour guide, I go on. So, our tour guide, and by the way, tour guide is an actual profession in Europe, says, "Okay, now we go to the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I have been to the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, La Cathedral Notre Dame etc.. And, this is more magnificent than any of them!"

When superlatives like that are doled out, I get a little suspicious. Yet, this tour guide knew tons and had seen tons. Still, I remained skeptical.

So, we walk up to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It was designed by Gaudi. The outside for sure has his touches as we had just seen earlier at Guell Park. Still, there was something magnificent about it. Imposing of course, but not for the purpose of being imposing. Imposing as a representation of limitlessness. That vibe surely got my attention. Way more than I was expecting. Overall, the exterior depicts the life of Christ and tells the Christ story of betrayal and crucifixion with modern art forms. Chiseled faces etc.

Then, our guide tells us that Gaudi got all of his inspirations from nature. This was how God manifested to him, she says. As you go in you will see a forest. Look at it. Then she says, "Okay, now we go inside, yes? Before we go please put down your cameras. As we go in, I want you to FEEL. Please, just for 20 or 30 seconds... please just feel. Take your pictures after you feel this." So, in a very real way this tour guide was transformed into our priestess. Preparing our souls, our deepest selves,  for what we were about to see.

By this point I was expecting some sort of physical forest with bark on trees and plants. As we went in, I was first struck by its immensity. Huge columns everywhere. Graceful arches. Ornamentation everywhere, then suddenly the unmistakable presence of God, of the Divine, of the all that is, of the total eternal. Every time I tried to absorb and frame in my mind what I was seeing... tears welled up inside. As I tried to explain this to myself in my head I had to stop because tears would well up. As I write this description of my experience, tears well up! It was and still IS THAT powerful. It was as if Gaudi connected to God directly. Gaudi then said, "I will show you to people in a way that they will get you. They will see the God I know. They will see the God that has appeared everywhere to me. They will feel your magnificence, and I will use all the tools you have given me to do this."

As far as I know this kind of architecture has never been executed. It is so elegant. The dome of the Basilica is supported by bi-furcating tree branches from the columns that transform into cancatenary arches. Multiple cancatenary arches connect with each other. The columns taper and twist to support the load of all the exterior spires. They are cobalt at the center (look up its energetic aspects), the hardest stone to support the main, tallest and as yet unconstructed spire. The further towers are a softer stone where less weight support is needed.

It was started in 1882 and Gaudi was signed on in 1883. It is expected to be completed in 2026, 100 years after Gaudi's death.

A few notes as to why this impacted me so much. I was responsible for many safety designs in automotive. The stylists had a vision and the engineering needed to support that vision. In my case I always took a no compromise perspective in regard to safety. I didn't care how beautiful it looked it needed to protect my people, my customers. Still, the challenge was, style is important. It was absolutely necessary to support our stylists. I didn't know it at the time, as I related to my spiritual side differently. Yet this firm grasp on what were the priorities was always supported by God. I turned to the quietness of all that is, God, in my meditations at the time.

I stunned Mary Walton, author of the book "Car", when she asked me about safety as she was writing her book.  "Safety is about forgiveness. My job is to reduce the consequences of a bad judgment. People should not have to pay heavily for their mistakes." So, in a sense my approach to safety revealed God and a benevolent universe.

So, as I looked at this design by Gaudi, I saw God....