Find Love Everywhere

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. Rachel Carson

Yesterday I was wandering the beach and saw something bobbing around in the surf. At first I mistook it for a jellyfish, but upon closer inspection I saw it was a toilet plunger. Where did this thing come from? It could have circumnavigated the world on the ocean currents. The careless remnants of our disposable society are a hallmark of the new geological epoch – the Anthropocene.

Humankind has ravaged the earth looking for cheap raw materials. Rainforests are burned out and plowed under for beef production. Grand beautiful trees have been ground down for pulp and the indigenous populations routed to the edges of extinction.

Fossil fuels have been extracted and converted into a myriad of disposable products which now taint our air, sea and land. The portion of beach I claim for my personal walking meditations is only a mile or so long, but it is a world unto itself for me. Whenever I see trash I pick it up and put it in the garbage cans. What infuriates me most is the casual way people think the ocean can somehow magically transform their trash back into raw materials.

All too many people have a selfish taste for destruction. Gentle use of nature is wonderful. It puts us back in touch with the wonders and realities of the universe as Rachel Carson said. There are uncountable glories everywhere in nature. In meditation, prayer, entreaties to various gods, all these wish to put us in touch with the sacredness of which nature abounds.

Humans believe we are the most powerful force on earth, but a visit to the beach will show that to be untrue. Embrace nature, and embrace the divine. The subtle forces sculpting and carving the shore are vast and wondrous. Stand on the tide-line and feel your toes curl up trying to hold on to solid ground. Release the taste for destruction and begin to live in a more ecological way. God is in the details as the saying goes. There from the tiniest creatures to the endless sky embrace the transcendence.

Focus on wonder, and find love everywhere. Be Well