Enchantment Part 6
October 17, 2026
A well-remembered song from Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s 1949 Broadway Musical is entitled “Some Enchanted Evening,” The lyrics describe seeing someone from across the room and knowing, right then and there, that they are the person of your dreams. This song leaves us with the thought not to let this moment pass without “flying to their side and making them your own… or all through your life you may dream all alone” …
As I listen to the recording of “Some Enchanted Evening,” I feel the moment’s richness, its otherworldliness, but also its profound brevity. It makes me feel as if I am hearing the last call before the ship sails, the lights go out, or the window of time closes. I sense enchantment on the wings of a type of urgency…
Enchantments are not only about places, but times, moments, and even seasons. An enchanted time is when enchanting things happen if even for a moment in time — Can you remember any enchanting times from your life— the glass slipper fits, or the person says “I love you,” maybe the conversation bubbles with one possibility after another, or we see eye to eye with someone, just the person we hoped opens the door and invites you inside, there may have been a time for you when the music floated inside your body, or when cheer and merriment filled the space, or when birds suddenly sang.
Or maybe the silvery moon shimmers upon the infinite sea, making a path all the way to your feet. The rain comes, and you sit under a cover, and in that moment, you recognize who you really are—then you fully inhabit your beautiful soul. Or it may be like a longstanding battle is over, and in that enchanting moment the sun casts long yellow shafts of light, and there is a feeling of indescribable harmony and happiness within and without you. You may say under your breath, “I wish this would last forever.”
In the spiritual life, the enchanted evening may not only be a romantic interlude, or even an evening. Anytime we experience union with the Divine it is enchanting. It is when the veils of our ego lift, and we see clearly what we’ve never before seen — feel what we have never felt but somehow recognize it. It’s the bliss that our fixation slaps us into forgetting. But when the veils lift, we know— we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we must, and without fail, fly to the side of whatever form the Beloved embodies, in that moment.
Words commonly attributed to the poet Rumi:
I see so deeply within myself.
Not needing my eyes, I can see everything clearly.
Why would I want to bother my eyes again
Now that I see the world through His eyes?
Spiritual Practice
Interpret the words of Rumi’s poem in light of your own experience with the enchanted moment.
Inquiry
In a time when you were definitely enchanted, how did that experience give you union with the Divine?
Prayer
Dear God, As I live and breathe, give me more ability to see creation through Your eyes.
Amen
