A Sacred Encounter

Serenely watching the sun peek above the horizon line across the expanse of the Pacific, the golden light and vibrant pinks fill me with optimism for a fresh start, a new day. Suddenly, I am startled by the crescendo of waves crashing against the rocky shore. The waves are being whipped up by a storm far out at sea that I can’t see. This contrast between serenity and disturbance mirrors my own spirit as I walk along the rocky path on the southern coast of Kauai at dawn.

I feel the wind on my face and the salty ocean spray showering my body’s cells, electrons, and photons with negative ions. These invisible, magical ions wash the dark news of our unhinged president from my mind, releasing me to an alternate universe where I merge with the sea and float with the billowing clouds in a cerulean, blue sky. I sense the whales swimming offshore with their new babies and yearn to see them.

I turn to my husband, who is walking with me, and ask, “Are you calling the whales?”

He has a telepathic communication with the whales, and I have faith that he can call them to us. Once, when we were whale watching on a small boat in Alaska, he closed his eyes and called the whales with his mind. We watched as three Humpback whales appeared as dots on the horizon and then started swimming directly towards our boat. As they approached, they seemed to look directly into my husband’s eyes, then dove like synchronized swimmers, tails up, under our boat and off to the horizon again. I caught a glimpse of their eyes, surprisingly sentient, and imagined they were thanking my husband for his lifelong work as an environmental activist.

“To call the whales, you have to be still,” he tells me.

I decide to sit on a rock and let him walk on without me. Mesmerized by the rhythm of the waves, my breath joins the breath of the ocean. I feel the strength of the lava rock holding me and am filled with gratitude as the warm sun relaxes the tension in my mind and spirit.

As I tune into the space around me, I notice a father pointing out a giant turtle swimming in the surf to his young son. Delight ripples through the ethers like a contagion, and I, too, feel new in the world, discovering treasures.

As a dark shadow passes over me, I look up and see the huge wingspan of the Hawaiian Petrel, returning from a night of fishing, seeking sustenance in the dark. Closing my eyes, I imagine myself soaring above the earth and looking down at the surf pounding the shore, and see that I am only a speck in a beautiful, wide world, and sense the past, present, and future all residing together as one in the rocks, the water, and me. If this were a dreamscape, I would instantly note that the feeling is one of being blessed to be in this spot on Planet Earth in this moment. My mind fills with gratitude for my health, my love for my husband, children, and friends, and for my Quaker community, all striving to make the world more peaceful, just, and equitable. I feel blessed to be immersed in beauty that heals my mind and soul, expanding me to connect with the stars and the vivid fish that swim at the depths of the ocean.

It is then that I notice the silent place. Under the turbulent waves, the sea is tranquil, undisturbed. In the sky, you can ascend in a plane beyond turbulence to a place of calm. And in me there is a still point. Always there. Present even if I am caught in the waves of anxiety and disturbance. A place of strength, resilience, peace. It is from this place that I can call the whales.

I do not see them, but in my mind, I hear them. “You are more powerful than you can imagine. Join us in dreaming the world you want into being.”