Spiritual Lessons from Smashing Waves

While spending time on the Northern California seacoast, I wrote this in my journal:
"The past few days of watching the waves smash on the rocks reminds me that the seeming obstacles to the flow of divine grace in my life - character flaws, the failure to be as disciplined as I'd like, etc. - actually can serve to create more dramatic instances of inner attractiveness than if they weren't present! ' Beauty is the harmony of contrasts.' As usual, the Creator - with our cooperation - is able to make good use of absolutely EVERYTHING in our lives!"

Photos: Patrick's Point State Park and Trinidad State Beach, CA, July 25-26, 2015

Californians ask; "Why should we sit in church on a Sunday when God is walking on water out there?"

"In the West, Nature seems to carry the whole thrust of the Divine. Established religions have a very shallow footing in the West. It is as if the California experience of religion is affective, entering into you in a physical way . . .

Especially in the coastal region, where there is the great drop-off point and the intensity of the sea, sustained church-going is difficult. Why should we sit in church on a Sunday when God is walking on water out there?"

William Everson
Poet and former monk

Photos: (Top) Flowers and Trinidad Lighthouse: (Second) Patrick's Point State Park, CA; (Third) Sunset, Redwood National Park, CA; (Bottom) Seacoast, Redwood National Park, CA; July 25-27, 2015

The sound of the ocean is a constant reminder that meditative Spaciousness and the roar of divine Silence are the fundamental reality.

Hearing the sound of the ocean both day and night really does something to the psyche. It is a constant reminder that meditative Spaciousness and the roar of divine Silence are the fundamental reality, and that the phenomena of life - thoughts, emotions and events - all have their birth THERE!

The oceanic roar of the seacoast reminds us to detach ourselves from placing so much emphasis on these particular phenomena, enabling us to remain grounded and centered in Something much Larger and more fundamental!

Photos: (Top) Sunset at Redwood National Park, CA; (Second) An unidentified orange flower (perhaps a lily) blooming on the cliff near our campsite at Patrick's Point State Park, CA; (Third) View through Sitka Spruce trees down onto Agate Beach, Patrick's Point State Park, CA; (Bottom) Monkey Flowers and Sea Stacks, Trinidad State Beach, CA; All photos taken July 24-26, 2015

The Seacoasts Embody the Meditative State

 

The seacoasts of the Pacific Northwest - with their spacious expanses, tides moving like breath, and bright colored wildflowers and sea stacks appearing out of and disappearing back into the fog, never fail to bring me into a state of meditation. I appreciate the fact that so many miles of coastline have been preserved as wilderness - and as physical embodiments of the meditative state.

Photo: Yellow Monkeyflowers, sea stack and fog; Trinidad State Beach, CA; July 31, 2014