WATER, WIND AND WISHING FOR WONDERS

Trembling, seeking solace, wishing for honesty everywhere, fearing oppression, body shaking, but then as gift from The Almighty G-d, the water waves come rolling in and wash away all disappointments, all hatred, all aggression, all the scorpions and snakes scurry away, and G-d takes an upper hand and destroys the wicked with the self-destruction of nagging, heart-breaking guilt--as guilt eats away at one's heart, and causes the wicked to drown in his own plans and schemes that were meant to hurt others.

The sandcastles on the beach come alive and jump upward as they become rich mansions in the sand, homes for the homeless carved with ornate designs into their walls. Sandcastles that become glorious sights of a child's happiness, a sign of a child's world of play and laughter, as the wind blows them away slowly, eventually, as the tide comes in and lake water wave rolls over them, dissolving them into the shore, sandcastles no more.

Honesty spilling over every molecule of sand as a family enjoys moments together, entire large families under sun umbrellas, rubbing suntan oil on each other's shoulders, protecting each other from the burning rays of the sun, from dishonesty and deceitfulness as it creeps up on you like a sunburn when you think all is okay.

Splashing in the waters to wash away all discomfort, to purify the mind, body, heart and soul. To have a renewed outlook on life, to chase away all evils, to feel reborn, to feel wanted and loved.

 

SCORPIONS AND SNAKES

Even though the lake water waves look beautiful and sound musical and create an atmosphere of relaxation and peace--there is no such thing as nourishing waters--all waters contain scorpions and snakes.

Enemies abound everywhere, the wicked thrive, the wrong do-ers and oppressors progress and get richer. The righteous live without reward in this life--instead our reward is in The-World-To-Come.

The wicked and evil snakes and scorpions who multiply and dominate the waters find you when you are down and add to your unfortunate plight, continuing to try to make your life miserable.

How to live with these never-nourishing waters? How to become nourished when no waters are nourishing? Answer: Nurture yourself in the constant study of the Torah, Prophets, and Writings.

A JOURNEY TO ONENESS

Seeing oneness everywhere, being alone in a one time echad existence, being me and everyone else is separate from me, I am me all around. It is me with a sunrise, seeing only one sun, rising quickly in one sky, of one color--being a blue sky, one sky overhead and seeing a mass of only one cloud in the one sky--a place, one place, for one G-d. One heaven, and one throne for one G-d. Praising one G-d as a member of one family of many generations, but all of us makes up one.

Writing everyday with one keyboard that includes many letters of one alphabet, making up one language, so that everyone who knows this one language can understand the oneness of my many words. Many different web sites in cyberspace making up the whole, but only one cyberspace, only one Internet that everyone uses--a oneness as a culmination of many.

Blowing one candle with one breath, one breath affects the oneness of the flame and bends it in reaction to the one breath as a wind--oneness in its reaction to the breeze. Seeing oneness in my vision, focusing on one sight at a time, cannot see behind me at the same time as seeing in front of me. Having a sight of oneness, contemplating one thought at a time, thinking about one thing at a time, coming to one conclusion at a time, one and then one and then one, making up a whole of many but with a singular functioning to get to the conglomerate. Pressing one key at a time on my computer keyboard. Tasting one food at a time, or many, but having a singular taste in one's mouth no matter how many foods I have eaten at once.

It is just me, me alone, and it is me with one G-d, in one universe, me as a singular person, one of the many. I am me, me alone, with one G-d, not multiple gods. No idols, not even one. Worshipping the singularity as being one great G-d, one Almighty, who will be my one companion, dedication of myself as one person to one G-d. Not in confusion with many, but zeroing in on one. The blessedness of Oneness, as a perfect union: Me and G-d.

WINTER WISPS WHISPERING WITHIN THE WATER

Water curling into waves on a deserted beach area, winter wisps whispering within the water: autumn is calling, beaches are empty of people, water temperatures cooling. Will be freezing next month, will be covered with cracked ice blocks, running trail paths will be salted, and only memories of  warm beach sunshine will be had.

Birds flying south for the winter, turtles retreating into the warmth of their shells. Ice tipped dune grass will crunch under footsteps, and bitter cold wind will sail through thinly lined winter jackets. To be like an Eskimo wrapped in furs, pelts of warm hair, chewing whale blubber as bubble gum, hands covered in thick gloves, briskly walking a few blocks and freezing to the bone.

Autumn: a warning sign that we must prepare for the inevitable stealthily approaching winter months. Yellow leaves from trees falling: danger signs, not to welcome the cold icy blasts soon to come. Shofar of the new year has sounded a scream of help for our prayers of safety and security to be answered. 

LURED BY THE CALLING OF THE SEA

I am pondering whether to go to the beach or not today. I am pondering and pondering and as I ponder, my G-d beckons me with lures to visit His greatness at the water's edge, an invitation to see His beauty in the water's reflection like mirrors of each glassy water wave as it foams at the mouth and asks me to come back again and again to its shoreline where I can constantly view G-d's power, greatness, almightiness, and compassion.

His empathetic understanding awaits me, as I walk in dedication to His seashore, taking each step carefully in regularity, putting one firm step after the other; knowing that when I get there I am in store for a full show of incredible life-filled fireworks, as each flame of wrath that was kindled by an offender becomes doused by a splash of cooling, easy, but forceful water gush--drowning all evils--thrown about my feet on the sandy shore by G-d's mighty arms and hands.

Yes, each day I will take a trip to the beach as G-d beckons me, to see in person, how incredibly great G-d is, how wonderful righteousness can be, how surely He can protect me from all ills. As each wave watering onto the sand is like a massage over my body, a wave caressing with ease and comfort. I can see Him in this water, see Him as my Protector, my Sovereign, mine--G-d is all mine.

THE WATER'S HORIZON AS A NUMBER LINE

Sitting on a seashore, seeing the swelling sea, feeling the wetness of the spray of the misty wet waters as they blow up from a wave onto your face, moistening your lips, cooling you off. Listening for the sounds of the sea, for a fish gurgle and some seaweed moving, hearing the rushing of the movement of the waters, repetitively, gargling, stirring, like music played by G-d Himself: to soothe, to keep you in rhythm with all things, to sit and tap your feet to it, to move your body with the movement of the sea, to feel its blue and greenness, to absorb it, to become one with it.

To sit and sit next to the waters, to be sedentary like the rocks at the side of the sea at the shoreline, to sway as the waves come tumbling in, to watch the boats out yonder, as images of stillness as they sail far out to the horizon. To see the horizon remaining still, not moving, not changing, stiffly, securely, stubbornly, stiff-necked, always there, whether you are there observing it or not. A constant, a predictable line, a connection of one place to another, from all sides, from the east to the west, the north to the south. A direct linear progression of sureness, of stability in a line, a numerical counting from a small number to a large number, and beyond, never stopping, never ceasing, from right to left. Eternal.

THE SURPRISE OF A STRANGE MYSTICAL LAKE WATER WAVE

 

Last night I sat on the water-soaked wooden boards of a dock at the East Rogers Park public beach and took in every stimulation G-d provided for me there. I was not expecting a surprise but as it turned out, I got one.

The waves were coming in one by one, all the same as each other, one rolling wave splashing against the sandy shore as the last one had splashed. I felt a regularization in the systematic flow of each wave, predictably one after another, all sounding about the same, all with basically the same amount of frothy foam as the last wave had. It was like being rocked in a bed cradle as a child by my Mother, each rocking motion of the cradle being like each wave coming in, predictable, the same, building up a trusting balanced emotion, thinking that this is the way it will always be: no upheavals, no changes, no shocks.

But then, as I had just gotten used to the similarity of these forthcoming waves, one by one, I almost fell off the dock being startled as I awoke from the peace of my daydream, because one wave was not at all like the others! I was sitting there meditating and suddenly a larger, faster, more vicious water wave suddenly came pouring in! It surrounded my feet like an army as my feet were hanging off the dock; so I quickly jerked them upwards so my shoes would not get wet! This strange wave came very far up to the sandy shore, further than any wave preceding it, and as I found out, also further than any wave proceeding it. It was a miracle like no other miracle I had experienced at the water's edge, because it was a natural G-d given miracle, an unexplainable freak of nature. I now knew how destructive tidal waves felt to an innocent bystander who was not expecting it.

I was so surprised, that I did not stop to try to figure it out. I jumped up from my sedentary spot on the dock and hurried home. Wondering if and when another freak of nature would come my way, but knowing that this one was special, and its miracle to be remembered and cherished.

SEASHELLS AS DISCOVERED TREASURE ON THE BEACH

Finding a treasure chest of nature's jewels strewn in the sand on the beach. Seashells of the tiniest size like glass beads from a necklace created by animals of shellfish that make the shell its home. Fumbling the seashells delicately in the palm of my hands, between each fingertip, feeling its sensitivity, its capacity to be crushed under a weight, as it relies on my mercy to throw it back into the sea unharmed, intact. Sand grains to be brushed off as they stick like with static magnetic force onto my feet after squeezing the sand between my toes after a stroll amongst the waves of the lake.

Listening for sounds of the sea as each wave comes in unison repetitiveness rolling one after the other onto the small smooth rocks that were carved by the water's creativeness, each rock different from the other--no rock identical to another, like humans they all keep a separate identity although are found together in masses and make up a hard ground that requires sandals to walk securely upon it so not to bruise the sensitive skin of a bare foot.

Knowing that another visit to the seashore will provide me with another experience to hear the music of the forthcoming foamy waves, and another moment to feel a seashell's tenderness, and another time to throw a rock into the water to watch it splash and drown never to uncover it again amidst the other rocks as it blends into the multitude like camouflage.