Stepping into and out of our circles of perception — e·qua·nim·i·ty: mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation. — Oxford Languages “Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another…

Images of life — № 40. Mirror image. Get reflective. In places like these, the boundary between me and “all that is” slithers into the recesses of my mind. My soul explodes into the expansive vacuum of “other,” and I swim with the fish, dappled with the same sun-warmed sparks that reach in, like fingers, to clutch at the last remnants of…

Melding with vastness — “Those rivers flow the eastern towards the east, the western towards the west. They go just from sea to sea. They become the sea itself. “ Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.10.1 (8th-6th century BCE) Little birds flit across the rising sky with the onset of dawn, tiny constellations of frenetic energy chattering…

November Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Happiness” — Immersing in immensity, power and grandeur The trade winds returned to the Island of Hawaii this week. The locals tell us that, until a couple of days ago, the air was so balmy and still that you could almost bathe in it. …

A poem in memory of my beloved “Mamacita” — A gown of stars adorns you now. A crown of moonglow smooths your brow. Your breath flows easy into night, your pain a distant memory. No rasping grief or deep regrets, just lessons learned, new lives to live. So, dance on moonbeams. Sing with stars. Weave nebula into your hair. …

But I’m recovering and am finding my way back — The last two months have been a whirlwind of losing the sight in my left eye after having lens replacement surgery, then regaining it, then losing it again, regaining it, then finally being told I needed emergency surgery when I lost it again. I can’t even count the number of…

Exploring unity and duality — “There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the radiant light that shines in the heart of man.” — Chandogya Upanishad III 13.7 (800–600 BCE) To light a candle is to cast…

Beneath the surface, a level of communication we couldn’t have even imagined had been taking place — “We sent whale song into interstellar space because the creatures that sing these songs are superlative beings that fill us with awe, terror, and affection. We have hunted them for thousands of years and scratched them into our mythologies and iconography. Their bones frame the archways of medieval castles. They’re…

To peer into the eyes of a leopard is to peer into the possibility of death and also into the complete interconnectedness of life — Aware — so aware of our every move, of the scent of our fear mingled with the tension of excitement, of our utter lack of cognizance of the dangers lurking in the dappled sunlight. These were my first impressions of the leopard. Languid as mottled water where it lays slow…