The Desert Teaches

"On your journey to your dream, be ready to face oasis and deserts. In both cases, don't stop." - Paulo Coelho

First time in 20 years this lake has existed - Merzouga, Morocco - November 2024

The poem below was written amongst the Sahara desert of both Egypt and Morocco in November of 2024.  The desert is a very intriguing place and is a lot different from what one envisions.  The majority of it looks like you were flung off Earth and landed on Mars.  The landscape is not endless sand dunes.  The dunes certainly exist but they are in patches, not swathing swarms.  It's mostly, flat, hard, dry, cracked ground just like what is found in parts of Arizona and New Mexico with random herds of wild camels sauntering about.  The desert has its own sound to it, a wispy crack of the wind blowing sand around complete with a low reverberating hum that can only be heard when one really listens.

The perception of the desert is that life cannot exist here, no way, no how.  However, all of the building blocks of life are there, just sitting, waiting for the conditions to be right.  All that is needed is for water to be added and suddenly life springs forth every which way, butterflies emerge, flamingos suddenly appear, birds swoop in, grass grows immensely fast which the camels then devour.  Once the water dries up then poof, the landscape chameleons back into appearing to not be capable of hosting life.  In reality, it's just resting, waiting for the next rains that will once again create the perfect conditions for life.

Squash Soup

"You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together."

- Anthony Bourdain

Squash Soup Topped with Roasted Squash Seeds

Squash soup is easy to make and very delicious.  A five star soup at home can be accomplished with minimal hands-on time and supplies.  All you need is a winter squash of some kind an oven, a blender and some spices.

What You Need:

-1 Winter Squash (Acorn, Butternut, Pumpkin, etc.)

-Garlic

-Salt

-Pepper

-Olive Oil

-Coconut Milk (optional)

Nature: The Only Perfect Church

"If I am not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

- John 10:37-38 (Bible)

"And when it is said to them, 'Follow what Allah has revealed,' they say, 'Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing.' Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided?"

- Surah Al-Baqarah 2:170 (Quran)

"Do not believe in something just because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in something because it is rumored by many. Do not believe in the written scriptures alone. Do not believe in conjecture or logic alone. Do not believe in something because it appears acceptable. Do not believe in something because it aligns with your preconceived notions. Do not believe in something out of respect for a teacher. But when you know for yourselves that these things are wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise, and lead to benefit and happiness, then you should practice and abide in them."

- Anguttara Nikaya 3.65 (Kalama Sutta)

Ruins in Nature - Dall·e AI

All churches and religious institutions around the world have one big flaw in common: Humans.

Each one, despite their best of intentions, has a very human interpretation and along with that comes pushing very specific agendas and deliberate misinterpretations that uphold a specific status quo.

The Universe

"We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us." - Albert Einstein

Earth as an Atom in a Pumpkin Vine - Dall·e AI

The universe is willing to teach you anything you want to know about it - all you have to do is listen.  This is my current understanding of the universe as learned through the garden.  As with anything in life, it is subject to change upon new (and constant) learning.  A mind should be like sand - constantly shifting and morphing as the tides roll in and out, always dynamic, never static.