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Monday, October 2nd

We lost another hour of time last night so I was able to witness another sunrise.  There is only one place to get coffee early (besides room service) so I head up to the Lido deck, grab a cup of coffee and park by the window.  As I look out at the horizon it looks clear like we are in for another perfect day.  But then I see a dark cloud and can see it raining off in the distance.  I would love to know how far away that is.  It is like watching a storm roll in on the desert.  As if there is a glass wall.  Rain on one side…sunshine on the other.  Our ship seems to be out running it.

This is day five of seeing absolutely nothing except water and sky; no land, no other boats, no airplanes or jet trails.  I thought I might get bored but I have not.  The sky and the ocean have so many different colors and personalities.  The water can be rough and gray or smooth and blue.  So many shades of blue.  And the clouds come and go, each one different in shape and in color.

There is a contentment in my spirit as I sit and watch.  I can totally relate to the people who found  sacred spirits in the natural world. The sea can go from calm, placid, beauty to threatening, powerful storm in an instant.  The sun seems to come and go at will changing the personality of the sky.  The gods can be happy or angry and I can do nothing to alter their moods but still suffer the consequences. 

Great quote from  Islands, the Universe, Home  Essays by Gretel Ehrlich 

“I have come here to sniff out shizen- the Japanese word for a spontaneous, self-renewing, inherently sacred natural world of which humans are an inextricable part.  I wanted to see how and where holiness revealed itself, to search for those “thin spots” on the ground where divinity rises as if religion were a function of geology itself: the molten mantle of sacredness cutting through earth like an acetylene torch, erupting as temple sites, sacred mountain, plains, and seas, places where inward power is spawned.”  (884)

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