Faith endures. Beyond the self, beyond understanding. Something so much more.

Illuminate. Late afternoon sunlight through a Sycamore leaf on November 1, 2012.

Enlightenment through light-heartedness. The true beauty of the spirit within reveals itself through translucence, when the layers of the pretending ego are stripped away. When the internal shines with the brilliancy of the eternal. I am thankful.

“The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” ― Albert Einstein

There is a sacredness of light and feeling in moments and places that transcend what the mind struggles to comprehend and control. Sometimes the full extent of the meaning of these experiences aren’t fully appreciated until days, months or even years afterwards, but the heart never lets go of the purity of beauty. In those moments are distant glimpses and echoes of where we come from and where we will eventually return. The struggles of today are suddenly meaningless. All else eventually falls to the wayside. What remains is eternal. The heart opened is the heart that connects with something wonderful beyond ourselves.

Out Where the Water Runs Deep. The rocks on the beach stand resolute in their stillness as a thousand waves a day come against them. Sometimes gracefully surrounding and flowing over on the slow patience of an incoming tide. Sometimes crashing in with rushing of a passing storm. Against, over, around and then back to the sea.

At first glance and surface consideration one feels for the futility of the water and admires the steadfastness of the stones as the waves fall to nothingness in tidal pools and droplets that slowly fade to sun and air. The stones appear to last while the water disappears. Or do they ?

Everything returns to the sea. In the water is the hidden power to find its way back to the source. With the tides and waves the ocean retrieves what is given to the land for it knows of the sanctity of its connection in every creek and river no matter how far inland. The ocean is patient. Even the sky and rain are in service to the return of the evaporated extensions.

And once again, the water runs deep.

To touch and contact and then return. To take with it the memory of every moment of every day. To be changed and excited in the encounter while always staying true to the source. To be blessed in the awareness of the truth of the Eternal. True power does not reside in the false belief of temporal resilience and hardened protection but rather in the beauty of the vulnerable and the courageous. The waves touch and return and wait, finding other shores, but always there.

Out in the deep at night a song is sung to the earth. “In the brilliant beauty of morning you stand strong, but I know, I know.”

Eyes always betray what’s hidden in the heart. The soul will always find its way to the source. The spirit resides in the moments when all goes quiet and in the deepness of the sea the truth of a greater love prevails.

Listen to your heart for the truth eternal. The one voice is patient because it knows that it will survive above the din of fear and regret and self-blame - the din from within and from others. Be still and hold true and all else will fall away.