The Pulse of Creation

Lost in awe at the beauty around me, I must have slipped into a state of heightened awareness. It is hard - impossible really - to put into words the moment of truth that suddenly came upon me then. Even the mystics are unable to describe their brief flashes of spiritual ecstasy. It seemed to me, as I struggled afterward to recall the experience, the self was utterly absent: I and the chimpanzees, the earth and trees and air, seemed to merge, to become one with the spirit power of life itself.

The air was filled with a feathered symphony, the evensong of birds. I heard new frequencies in their music and also in singing insects' voices - notes so high and sweet I was amazed. Never had I been so intensely aware of the shape, the color of the individual leaves, the varied patterns of the veins that made each one unique. Scents were clear as well, easily identifiable: fermenting, overripe fruit; waterlogged earth; cold, wet bark; the damp odor of chimpanzee hair, and yes, my own too. And the aromatic scent of young, crushed leaves was almost overpowering.

That afternoon, it had been as though an unseen hand had drawn back a curtain and, for the briefest moment, I had seen through such a window. In a flash of "outsight" I had known timelessness and quiet ecstasy, sensed a truth of which mainstream science is merely a small fraction. And I knew that the revelation would be with me for the rest of my life, imperfectly remembered yet always within. A source of strength on which I could draw when life seemed harsh or cruel or desperate.

~ Dr. Jane Goodall

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In the deluge of tributes that flowed after Jane Goodall’s passing on October 1st, I came across this passage above from her book Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey. In the heart of Gombe, surrounded by the hum of forest life, she was graced with a moment that would shape her entire life. It was not a scientific breakthrough, nor a conscious decision, but a spontaneous awakening.

In that instant, the boundaries of self and world dissolved. Every sense - sight, sound, scent - came alive with radiant clarity. The song of birds, the smell of wet earth, the shimmer of green leaves, and even the damp scent of chimpanzee hair were no longer separate from her; she was part of them, as they were part of her. For a fleeting moment, she did not merely observe the forest - she was the forest. Such experiences are recognized across spiritual traditions. In Zen Buddhism, it is kensho, a glimpse into one’s true nature where self and world are one. In Hinduism, it is nirvikalpa samadhi, union with divine, pure consciousness where all duality disappears. In Christian mysticism, it is unio mystica, the merging of the soul with God. Philosopher Alan Watts captures it beautifully: “You do not come into this world. You come out of it, like a wave from the ocean.” Goodall had not entered the forest; she had emerged from it, inseparable from the living flow of life.

This awakening transformed Goodall’s work. Before that day, she had already revolutionized primatology, showing that chimpanzees could reason, feel, and use tools. Afterward, her vision shifted from observation to communion. The forest was no longer merely a site of study but a living community, and her science became infused with love. She spoke not only as a researcher but as a participant in the great web of life. This deep knowing of interconnection became the quiet current behind her advocacy for conservation, animal welfare, and youth education through programs like Roots & Shoots. Kindred awakenings illuminate similar paths of action. Joanna Macy, the Buddhist eco-philosopher, felt the Earth’s grief as her own and transformed that recognition into the work of ecological and social healing. Gandhi’s realization of ahimsa, or nonviolence, arose from the same insight: harming another is wounding oneself. For all three, awakening was never an escape but a summons to compassionate service.

Goodall’s moment of “outsight” became a lifelong guide, a source of strength in the face of despair and a moral compass for action. She lived from the knowledge that all life is connected, that every creature and every leaf carries the same pulse of being. Meditation, quiet presence, or deep attention can reveal the same truth: that we are not visitors in the world but expressions of it, inseparable from its breath, its rhythms, its life. Once this awareness touches the heart, love and care flow naturally.

From her forest awakening, Jane Goodall reminds us that to awaken is to see, to know, and ultimately, to serve - that the pulse of life we feel within ourselves is the pulse of Creation itself.

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