BEACH MUSIC
by Jan Price
from the March 2000 Quartus
Report
In your mind take yourself to the
seashore. Image a quiet beach deserted
by all except yourself. Feel the damp
sand beneath your feet and the cool
ocean breeze. Gulls fly overhead dipping
occasionally into the water, hoping for
breakfast. Find a comfortable spot to sit
and look out over the endless blue to the
distant horizon. Be still and listen.
Rushing toward a sandy beach a
group of waves are playfully calling to
each other. “I’m a wave,” says one. “I’m
a wave, too” says another. Then a third
one announces, I’m the ocean.”
“No you’re not,” . says wave number one.
“You’re just a wave.”
Number three replies, “Waves are
the ocean in movement. I am the ocean
being a wave. I am the ocean gracefully
expressing itself, dancing in a chorus line
of waves. You’re a wave, but you’re the
ocean too. You can’t separate yourself
from the ocean. We’re all the ocean
ruffling itself into different waves. Each
one is special and unique from the big,
powerful, frothy one to the tiny little
ripple. We can’t just be waves without
an ocean, and the ocean isn’t complete
without the waves. ”
A chorus of agreement begins as
wave after wave calls out:
“I’m the ocean.”
“I am too.”
“I’m the ocean dancing.”
“I’m the ocean being a wave.”
“I’m the ocean and it’s so much
fun.”
And the waves splashed happily
upon the beach as waves are supposed to
do, knowing that whatever form they
took, they were the ocean.
It’s true, you know, of you and
me, too. We can’t separate ourselves
from the Ocean of God. Though each
one of us is special and unique like the
waves, we are all expressions of infinite
Beingness, part of the magnificent
Whole.