The Ocean becomes the drop!

Everything you see has its roots
in the unseen world.
The forms may change,
yet the essence remains the same.

Every wondrous sight will vanish,
every sweet word will fade.
But do not be disheartened,
The Source they come from is eternal—
growing, branching out,
giving new life and new joy.

Why do you weep?—
That Source is within you,
and this whole world
is springing up from it.

The Source is full,
its waters are ever-flowing;
Do not grieve,
drink your fill!
Don't think it will ever run dry—
This is the endless Ocean!

From the moment you came into this world,
a ladder was placed in front of you
that you might transcend it.

From earth, you became plant,
from plant you became animal.
Afterwards you became a human being,
endowed with knowledge, intellect and faith.

Behold the body, born of dust—
how perfect it has become!

Why should you fear its end?
When were you ever made less by dying?

When you pass beyond this human form,
no doubt you will become an angel
and soar through the heavens!

But don't stop there.
Even heavenly bodies grow old.

Pass again from the heavenly realm
and plunge into the ocean of Consciousness.
Let the drop of water that is you
become a hundred mighty seas.

But do not think that the drop alone
becomes the Ocean—
the Ocean, too, becomes the drop!

Jelaluddin Rumi
A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi

A little bit of history

Yesterday, Mary Anderson turned 100.

Who is Mary Anderson?

Mary is the co-founder of REI with her husband, Lloyd, who died about 5 years ago at 96.

Mary is in great spirits and is very sharp. She started her remarks today by saying, "Sally (CEO) said I could say whatever I wanted." And then she smirked.

I'm honored to work for the company she started, and I am proud that she has reached such a venerable age so well. See what walking in the mountains can do for you?

Continuing the vaguely disgusting files...

Why can I not find anyone to tell me why Sumner smells like sewage this evening? It's baaaaddddd, man. And believe me, everyone there wants to know.

And then there's my other cat...

... My sweet, 13 year old, 28-pound cat...

Do you know what the worst part of waking up in darkness to realize that your cat is devouring *something* mere inches from you on the bed?

Cat owners will likely know. It's not, actually, the eating, although that is pretty disgusting. It's that each and every cat will ALWAYS leave 1 organ behind that they refuse to eat. Yup, right there on the comforter when you wake up. See what I was up to last night, mom?

How do cats know this? I mean, seriously, they will leave this one organ and eat everything else. All of them! How do they know that?

I ran the dishwasher (with the cat food bowls in it) fairly late last night, so there wasn't even the hope of licking the bowl during the night. I think this was his way of compensating for the lack of potential food. Geez.

'Tude

I've never had a cat quite as immovable as Little Katja, all 9 pounds of her. If she is on the bed, she is not moving. I have woken up quite cattywampus as she manages to carve out additional bed space during the night, and I keep going sideways to move away from her. But tonight, I think, she has gone too far:




That's MY pillow! MY side of the bed! Did she move when I took the picture? Why no. She just gave me the stink eye.

Fortunately, at 9 pounds, she is quite liftable. And I have no doubt she'll get me back during the night.