Recently my family and I traveled many miles from three different cities to spend some time together at the beach. When you think about it, it seems odd that people would pack up their car and spend their valuable time and money just to be by a body of water. When you ask what draws people to the beach, most responses include the water, the sun and the sound of the waves. Vacations are usually for relaxation and can be enjoyed in any area or climate, but a trip to the beach seems to spark that universal feeling of serenity.
I thought about this while I was sitting in a lounge chair with my feet in the sand and realizing that the allurement of this body of water stems from the message it is trying to convey. John F Kennedy tells us that “All of us have the exact percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean…. We are tied to the ocean and when we go back to the sea, we are going back from whence we came.”
The ocean is like a parent to us; continually trying to get our attention; to nurture and mentor us to learn the lessons it reveals about life and resiliency. Think about the billions of drops of water that come together to form a united body of water; working in harmony no matter the circumstances. The pull of a full or partial moon might change momentum; the sun may change the temperature but the ocean does not resist. Instead, it continues to do its work with the faith that all is well; adapting to the changes presented to it realizing that disharmony causes loss of strength. We could all learn to be better at this.
As visitors to the beach, we often observe the surface of the water and make judgements on its value. Will a surf board glide across it? Can I recline on a float and get a tan? Making judgements based on its exterior, we neglect to look beneath the surface to see the beauty of what lies within. Dave Berry describes it this way: “There is nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.”
The beauty of the coral; the millions of living things that reside beneath the external are all overlooked when we judge only that which we can see. The depths of the ocean contain more beauty and life than we can imagine and it goes to great lengths to protect it. Not caring what it looks like on the outside, the sea maintains an environment of nourishment in order to provide magnificence within. In addition, when something is placed inside it that could be harmful to its milieu, it purposefully brings it to the surface for disposal. Always striving for internal balance over external.
How many of us spend endless time worrying about our external appearance and how we look to others? How many judge others based only on what we can see with no consideration of the potential internal beauty? I hate to admit that I did just that while I was sitting there with my feet in the sand on lands edge worrying about the cellulite on my legs and looking at others in their bathing garments. Then as the water tenderly lapped up over my toes as a gentle reminder of all the lessons it has for me just as the parent reminds the child, I remembered again of the message of the ocean.
My seven-year old granddaughter was the reminder of my next lesson. As she looked at my feet in the sand she began to tell me the story of the parrotfish and the development of the white sand in some of the tropical areas where they reside. These fish feed on the algae and the live coral on the reefs in that area. Plates within their throat grind the mixture that has been eaten and then after digesting the coral rock, it is excreted as sand! Again, I was pulled back to the message of the water; that everything internal has a purpose and nothing is wasted in the process. One part of the group doing the right thing in harmony with all the other parts for the good of the whole.
If our civilization could function like this, the possibilities of a better world would be endless,
but all we can control is ourselves. Just as each parrotfish does not worry about what the other fish is doing but just does his own work to the best of his ability, imagine if we all did the same. If each of us did not worry about the surface, but instead lived to see the internal beauty of ourselves and others, what wondrous results could we achieve!
As we spent the week near the sea, I witnessed so many miracles by the water. I believe children still have an open mind that’s not yet been tainted by the world, and remember the purpose of the ocean. Watching one-year old Lucy stand at land’s edge, allowing the water to splash up over her legs while her feet sink into the sand, I saw the look of gleeful familiarity on her face. Seven-year old Calissa, who is constantly on the go, was content all afternoon as she placed sticks in the sand to see if they would withstand the waves. Both young souls instinctively knew the intimacy of ocean.
The week has come to an end and everyone has headed back to their normal lives but I hope that they carry the message of the ocean back in their heart. There is a meditation by Nayyirah Waheed that says “If the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both salt water mixed with air.”
So, at the Heart of it All, this glorious thing called life brings us messages in many forms but the message of the ocean takes us home where it all began.
Namaste