In the beginning, there was water. A new planet, condensing from a cloud of gas and dust and rocks, and onto that form condensed water, in gaseous, liquid, and eventually solid states as well. And in that water, there were chemicals, so complex and... well, intelligent that they began to replicate, and form even more complex structures. For three billion years would these dominate the seas. And despite all their complexity, they were painfully simple when compared to what started half a billion years ago, life so complex it could leave its ancestral home of the ocean and dominate the land. And in the last ten thousand years, there became a curious creature, one who thought big, and asked too many questions. I don't know if he'll ever get answers. Not to all of them. But then, perhaps that isn't such a bad thing. This is where our story begins. So, there was this one time a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to the coast, to hang out and discuss life. I took him up on the offer. It's quite simple, really. We both live only about a half hour's drive from the Atlantic Ocean, and on days where the wind is blowing high and long and the sky is clear you can sometimes catch a whiff of the sea air from our houses, if you strained enough to pick it out among the other scents of daily life here. There was trash, gasoline, motor oil, nearby farms, perfumes and incense and various other man-made scents, but on those magical days, when the tide was high and the wind was gusting in, carrying cool air from the sea in just the right way, it could carry the smell right to you. Oh, how I love the sea. I hardly ever swim in it, although I do enjoy going out on a boat. Sailing is always fun, once you get the hang of it. But I really tend to spend my time simply on the beach, when I go to the sea. Yes, I can admit, I quite enjoy the sights of a crowded beach, all those surfer girls, but aside from that, my favorite spots are the deserted ones, where I can be alone with the wind, the waves, the cry of the gulls out over the open water or the chirping noises of a sand piper as it makes its way through the sand, looking for food. I especially love finding trees near the beach. Just small ones. They only need to be big enough to shade me, after all. The way the breeze blows through their leaves is quite different from the way it would in a forest inland. Quite different. But then again, perhaps that's only me. Perhaps most people are blind to it, the way I am blind to the brightness and sharpness of colors that the rest of the world can see, so clear. Perhaps that's why I like the sea so much. You don't have to look at it to know it is there. You can feel it, be the breakers crashing or lightly teasing and caressing the sand and rocks of the shoreline. And, if I'm attuned to it, I can hear with sharp clarity the different sounds, different in each way as the many colors the normal eye could see. One can feel the differences of each wave, the minute fluctuation of the tide - in fact, one can even tell when the tide has turned. It's as if a deep, momentous thud hits, the pause between the inhaling and exhaling of an ocean, and then the waves reverse their direction, and instead of backing away they begin to advance, or instead of advancing they begin to back away, down the beach, a slow and endless cycles as old and timeless as the oceans themselves. Or perhaps that's just me. I sat there with my friend that day under the shade of a tree, looking up at the blue of the sky, and admiring the darker blue of the ocean. Perhaps it wasn't as blue for me as it was for him. As was the green on the leaves of the branches above us. But that was okay by me. I was there. I could feel them. And that had to count for something. We were simply talking for a while, and eventually I asked him a thought question. I first told him that he wanted to go to the beach, to which he agreed. I then asked him, why hadn't we gone to the beach? He was confused. He told me we were at the beach. I insisted we weren't really there. He thought I was nuts, and said, of course we're already here. Finally I told him what I was getting at. Yes, I said, we had gone to the beach. One beach. One small strip of land, purchased by some kind of organization we call the government, who put in a parking lot, some handrails, and lifeguard towers. But were we really at the beach? The problem with this notion was that the beach is actually much more than that. It is the whole coast, not just that small patch. It is every tiny thing about the place. He asked, now that we're here, could we not go around the coast and see the whole thing, and then could it be said we had been to the beach in full? I replied no, for not only would it take over a lifetime, but you wouldn't remember everything. Not only that, but it is constantly shifting and changing, footprints of eager swimmers and surfers, the shifting of sand and the wearing of rock, the raising of land, construction and destruction, and other sorts of man-made and natural changes. BUT there was solace in one idea... that idea being that the whole coastline... was connected. It is all connected, one gigantic thing that exists in contact with the area next to it, for as there is no place that the sea ends and land does not meet it, there is also no place the land can just end without and ocean... and therefore, a coast. But it was not experienced. We can be part of it, but not experience it all. Still, it is a wonderful thing, is it not? And every time, when you come back to the same spot, things will be different. But if you were to go to a new spot, everything would be different, and the experience would be so much more. I am searching, searching, endlessly searching, for something I know I will never find, even if I stand upon it. It is not enough, nor is it mine to understand, for it is simply too vast and complex. I missed most of it, and I will miss most of it. How can I see something as timeless as the sea? But I can walk along it and see what I may. See and smell and feel. Besides, who wants to know everything?
You are quite a writer......I have experienced and thought about much of the same things ..I came to the conclusion I only needed to be at one place of it....to understand and experience it fully..... reminds me of a maitre^ d I worked for one year.... he said to us...."Get your heads here...what is going on here is going on in the rest of the world, too...." He was quite the character.... You have a gentle way of expressing yourself. Did you just write that now?......Is one of your main things in life being a writer?
Thank you. I actually wrote it three days ago in about two hours, forgot about it, found it again today because I remembered using it as an analogy for enlightenment in a private conversation with another member here, and decided to post it in a separate thread so others could read as well. It's interesting you should say gentle... part of what I'm doing is representing my own personality flaw in that I never seem to be able to reach a conclusion because I see both sides of the argument so well. I'm hoping to be a musician, but I'd love to write on the side as it is my other great passion in life, as a form of expression
I loved this so much you have no idea. By the way it isn't just you. you are a truly talented writer.
("...you're onto a winner, so why not write even more still..." smiled the goblin invitingly hoping that tom was here to stay then, adding "...the readership on hip forum is good indeed, succeed here and who knows then, perhaps you'll be able to repeat this process across forumland itself, where as luck would have it, and if you think about it too, there must be more readers across forumland today than in that bookworld even...", at which point the goblin's smile stretched into a timely grin, somehow the fun had just begun he felt)
I wish I was at the beach today. I miss the sand, the waves, the salty air and the healing powers just being near the ocean can have.....
