You don’t have to go anywhere

You don’t have to travel too far to experience an epiphany.

Travel physically, that is. The nearest library is as far as one needs to hoof. A good book usually is enough to offer some insight about life.

But sometimes, not even a book is necessary — just look around and take an interest in your surroundings. What seems mundane, say a cornfield or a crescent moon, really isn’t.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle,” the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said. “But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”

There’s nothing New Age about that. It’s a simple acceptance that each of us and the world we inhabit is incredibly special.

(originally published Oct. 3, 2004)