In the quiet, a life changed

One week after blowing glass for the first time at college when he was 18, Rick Eggert went home to Vermont on break. 

One morning he decided to plunge into the woods behind his family home. It was early spring, the snow was still three to four feet deep even though it was 65 degrees. 

The sun was beaming through the breaks in the trees. 

Rick snowshoed for hours through the forest. At one point he came upon a clearing and built a little fire. 

I’ve always been a pyro, which is probably why I’m a glass blower now. 

He recalls a silence so complete not even birds were chirping. Utter quiet, no wind, nothing. It got so quiet his 18-year old energy quieted down too and he relaxed into the tranquility. 

Then a gentle breeze blew past him . . . 

It felt like it was going through me. Life changed in that moment.

Rick had an instant insight . . . 

I realized I was a speck of dust, that the universe was a huge peaceful place and I was a part of it . . . I was floating . . .

He understood he was not some discardable cog, he was an inseparable aspect of the colossal whole.

To me the universe was saying ‘Dude, pay attention to this. This is important.’

And what he felt it was speaking to him about was blowing glass.

The trajectory of his life changed there. Twenty years later he’s built up his own glass studio, he’s on the cusp of success and sustainability as a glass artist. He’s producing work that melts your heart, based loosely upon herd behavior in the wild. 

What if he hadn’t gotten so utterly quiet that he could feel the universe move through him in a breeze?

__________________________
Click here to receive the best of The World Is Freaky Beautiful  —  via email update, once or twice a month.