We don’t think hurricanes are fabulous, majestic spiritual creations but deadly, destructive natural events. The news covers the meteorology that created the hurricane, but that gets subordinated to announcements about evacuations and preparedness.
While those caveats are essential, they also cause us to miss a great spiritual opportunity to see hurricanes as purely natural, organic forces, acts of God, and incredible displays of pure power using the earth’s essential organic elements: wind, water, heat, and the earth’s rotation.
If people take the time to consider that these natural forces alter our lives for days and weeks as purely organic acts of nature, hurricanes can be seen in a whole new light: ones that promote spiritualism and awe.
Yet, while spiritualism and science often seem at odds, these natural events show their direct connection, especially in their brute power, independent motion, and ability to reshape the lives of millions for weeks and months. More importantly, we are helpless to alter their paths and vulnerable to their indisputable power.
Consider that Irma is the first hurricane ever recorded that sustained 185 miles per hour winds for longer than 24 hours. As meteorologists point out, it helped make Sept. 7, 2017, the most active day for hurricanes on record in the Atlantic, along with two other storms, Jose and Katia, which were still forming in the Caribbean. As powerful as hurricanes are in the Western Hemisphere, tropical cyclones are more powerful; they can release as much energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs.
Hurricanes and cyclones remain the most potent above-ground events, yet they all start as simple shifts in converging winds. Whether they form in the Caribbean or off the coast of Africa, they both begin as thunderstorms that transform by spinning high-humidity air, light winds in the upper atmosphere, and warm seas.
The spiritualism of hurricanes is not part of the news coverage, but spiritual people recognize this natural power. One woman in Boca Raton, Florida, told me she was sending Irma her love since the hurricane was upset over the state of the world. She said that sending the hurricane her love would lessen its destructive force.
At first, this sounded odd, but as she explained, this natural force had a human name and could be addressed as a personified, untamed banshee, even though it was an unpredictable axe of destruction.
Many religions celebrate the tremendous force of nature. Hebrew blessings are recited when seeing lightning, rain, oceans, rivers, mountains, deserts, meteors, comets, eclipses, feeling solid winds, the jolt of earthquakes, and hearing thunder. Great thought has gone into the legal reasoning for these blessings, even to the point that blessings should only be said over natural rivers, not those altered by man. The reason for this is simple: these extensive blessings honor God’s natural creations, not those of man.
While we focus on earthly concerns impacting our daily lives, we should remember that hurricanes and destructive natural forces have existed since the water, earth, and winds were created. Appreciating their power puts us all in perspective.
