Sacred Peace Found
Remnants of Earth’s mantle, carved and worn by the wind and the sea and tides, rises, peaks, and verdant outcroppings strewn with nature’s bounty:
these are blessings
unfurled & multiplied
in extraordinary peace.
Sailing the inland passages, the fjords and waterways, our vessel paused in transit to examine what was once the throat of an ancient volcano. A lonely monolith, weathered and torn, that seemed to rise out of nowhere in the midst of glassy waters, silvered and sparkling as the sun poked through the cloud cover, gave up her secrets, one by one, as we drew nearer. What seemed at first a mystery at some distance, a curiosity amongst the smoother islands of the fjord, as we sailed nearer and nearer, became an extraordinary testament to nature’s stunning gifts. And on her shores, washed by the tides and kissed by the sun, birds rested.
I had a dream last night – while I was yet awake – a dream that our world reflects the light of consciousness of every human being, some bright, some faint or almost lost, much like the starry sky above the Modoc Plateau. There in the darkness staring up into the vastness of that tiny portion of the universe that I could see, I watched in wonder starlight sprinkled across the cosmos like so many precious gems liberally adorning heaven’s curtain; there in the darkness of a moonless night aglow, I wondered whether billions of conscious beings inhabiting our planet, might cast glints toward heaven of reverent sparks of divine light inhabiting our souls, spreading another light, a collective light, designed to bedeck Earth gently. There in the darkness of space, something extraordinary is emerging on a rocky planet we call home – a species grew conscious of itself and now spreads a little bit of peace to the collective. If we consider the turbulence of our planet’s history, the development of the capacity to collectively and consciously dwell amid our darkness, building and refining solid pathways that remember nature’s peace – that development is simply divine.
Rare finds among nature’s gifts compel an understanding of her mysteries. The extraordinary light reflected across Yosemite Valley draws a chance encounter into lifelong contemplation. Remembering nature in the hurly burley lifestyle we all lead puts us in touch with a deeper part of ourselves and attunes us to the very essence of who we are. There is a vibration in nature that is very different than the pulse of city life. Yosemite echoes this vibration from one canyon wall to the next, from waterfall to lazy river, from rivulets of snow melting in the sun to the swell of mighty falls that thunder into the night, from forested glens to tender greens that emerge from the rock and drink from the snows of winter. Our electric frenzy in splendid differentiation and dissonant rhythm from those encountered in Yosemite, pulses the human anatomy with extreme vibratory requirements while our natures seek reminders of gentler streams akin to breath itself. Yosemite breathes. Slow inhale and exhale of light coursing through the valley invigorating and enlivening her sublime terrain, the very essence of the heart mindful of its being and restoring its natural rhythm as it attunes to the breath – to these we return again and again.
Reflections of the mind distill curiosity, mystery, awareness, profound peace, breath, soulful essence, and attunement to match in words nature’s gentle vibration. Surround yourself in peace transcendent and sacred in our offerings reflected in robust eloquence, timeless rendering with sumptuous longing, and that which evokes the feeling of what it is like in nature’s sacred peace. Several years ago in our travels across the Southwest, a thought occurred to me amid my musings which sparked a love affair with the wild. Nature’s power and passion imbue our souls eternally with that transcendent peace. What if we could cultivate such sacred peace throughout our lives in such profusion so that all peoples, regardless of race or creed, regardless of size or might, could reach into our collective consciousness, as often as needed, and remember how to find nature’s stunning vibration we call sacred peace?
Where are you most at peace? How often do you go there?
Would you be willing to cultivate that peace daily?
bring home the beauty
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