Oneness part two

7 Open to its epiphanies How incredible, how beautiful. I do not even know how to describe it. It is simply… the universe coming together in this moment, this place, for me. And I’m no longer a person, I’m just something that’s here with it. Part of the great swirl…

Oneness

O N E N E S S 1 Seek the oceanOpen to its epiphaniesRejoice in every detailPut all in orderThen teach To some people—like me—always having a notepad within easy reach is almost as essential as wearing clothes. Traveling, walking, sitting, sleeping, even watching TV, ideas or word passages appear…

Differentness part two

7 “It is very difficult, what you are doing,” she said, after I’d told them of my story and my search. “Where we come from it is more understood. It is the highest goal a person can strive toward, we venerate this more than any other accomplishment. In our country…

Differentness

D I F F E R E N T N E S S 1 I didn’t stick my thumb out, preferring to walk for the morning along this scenic road where each hour I’m passed by a handful of joggers and cyclists in their tightest and brightest fitness wear. Like…

Sameness part two

8 For the next two days we wove a desultory groundwork, mentioning almost random bits and pieces of our lives until we formed some kind of familiarity with each other. No special bond appeared, nothing ‘deep’ happened between us. It was more like two friendly strangers meeting daily on a…

Sameness

S A M E N E S S 1 “Where you headed?” An old nondescript K-car, in not-bad condition and the only vehicle I’ve seen since returning to the road, has pulled up beside me, windows down. Inside is a pleasant-looking older black man, skinny, fuzzy hair turning grey, dressed…

Somethingness part two

6 “Has she sent other people to see you? Like me?” I asked. “So far only a couple,” she said. “They’s married. They lived acrost the ocean somewheres.” The old man really gets around. Years sitting on a mountaintop, interspersed with voyaging to the far corners of the planet. There’s…

Somethingness

S O M E T H I N G N E S S 1 Eight hours of walking in the hot sacred south. No rides for this crazy white man hitchhiking in an area where, well, there just aren’t any white people. No vehicles in sight, no shelter from the…

Nothingness part two

7 “I have no interest in talking about these spiritual matters,” he said. His straightforward candor was so natural and unfiltered, it was both refreshing and completely non-offensive. “It is all thoughts rattling inside the head, and making noise when spoken out into the air. I would ‘cope just fine’…

Nothingness

N O T H I N G N E S S 1 I met my first wise man, an ancient monk but of no discernible religion, on—yes—a mountaintop. I say ‘man’ but with grey hair to his waist, little facial hair, a pure and pleasant brook-like voice, and no obvious…