Plugging in to the Divine

I'm sure you're wondering why on earth I'm displaying this photo after raving about all the great fun I had taking pictures in yesterday's fog.

But actually -- this is one of the pictures I took yesterday.  And though lots of the others are quite lovely, and some may even be exhibit-worthy, this is the one that makes my heart sing.

I know.  I could probably never sell it.  I'll probably never even print it.  But is that what matters?  We were speaking (indirectly) of this a couple of days ago, two of my fellow meditators and I; of this constant urge we have to serve the world -- which is SO tangled up with ego, with wanting to be visible and appreciated.

And the fact is, we're already serving-- serving our children, our parents, our communities -- in a variety of less obvious ways.  And, in fact, we serve simply by opening to the Divine and allowing it to move through us.

So am I not actually doing the world a service by listening to my own heart, and modeling that for others?  Ram Dass says, in a tape of his on Conscious Aging, that death feels a bit like finally taking off a shoe that doesn't really fit.  That shoe could be anything: this life, this ego, this body... but that soul that's squeezed in there is vibrant, alive, lively; full of joy and wonder and enchantment.  That soul, I think, is what claps its hands in delight when it sees this photo -- so I want to laugh, and honor that, and post this here as a testament; to say that joy is still alive and well in me, and, well, maybe there's something in you that's equally giddy that will just light up when you see this -- not because it's a great photo, but because it speaks to something so deliciously real.

And if you don't like it?  Well -- that's okay, too.  Today I'm just having fun!