Though I live in and love the mountains, I try each year to make at least one trip for a getaway to the ocean. This, for me, is the best of both worlds. The Colorado Rockies give me my hiking, deep wooded forests, refreshingly clean and thin mountain air and then – at their pinnacle – the feeling of standing on the top of the world. Theirs is the place of wildlife and plant life – of magnificent sunrises and sunsets. For me, the mountains are the true birthplace of serenity.

But then there’s the ocean. That mighty and massive body of water, never failing to communicate to me just how small I am and how large the Presence that is ‘in’ and yet ‘beyond’ me (and all things!) is. And to think that I can know such a Presence and even be a part of this One’s nature – there’s such power in owning this thought. Continue reading…

An ancient Sufi poem goes like this:

     I have a thousand brilliant lies

                For the question:

                  How are you?

      I have a thousand brilliant lies

                For the question:

                  What is God?

If you think that the Truth can be known

                    From words,

  If you think that the Sun and the Ocean

     Can pass through that tiny opening

                Called the mouth,

     O someone should start laughing!

Someone should start wildly laughing –

                        Now!

Continue reading…