The Blue Ocean

The Pacific Ocean. Standing there was good – it’s always good for me. As I looked out over the ocean I was thinking that this area is so tiny compared to the whole ocean. So I looked east towards Japan and thought about the people there. How many of them are falling in love today? How many of them will have their hearts broken tomorrow? Then I thought about places further beyond. I thought about people in Iran too. How many of them are wishing for change today? How many of them will be crying at funerals tomorrow?

I realize that I can’t make the world love me. I don’t have that power. But the ocean is blue and sensuous and that’s enough for me. So I sat meditating on the pulse of the sea and watching it crash onto the shore. I closed my eyes and listened to the wind and to the distant roar of the waves. I breathed in the ocean air. And, with a new thought, I opened my eyes again.

Yes, this is a small part of the whole, but doesn’t even this small fragment of ocean have power? Don’t its waves also shape the rocks? Won’t these high cliffs eventually crumble into its depths?

- Just a peasant

Photo from the Oregon Coast June 2009