Beach Spirituality

I went in the morning on Friday, though not quite as early as I intended. The beach is different everytime I go. Weekday mornings I see people fishing, which reminds me that there is life in that ocean, non-human life with different sensory experiences, ways of thinking, and ways of surviving. It's good to stay aware that we share the neighborhood with beings who are not us. And do what we can to help them to survive.

I have so much to learn. What I thought was a low tide the other day was nothing like Friday. The other day must have been more of a medium tide. I was going by all of the "garbage and the flowers" left from a higher tide. Friday morning the mudflats went a long way out. With fewer people the wading birds let me get closer to them than usual. I was careful to stay calm and slow, and ready to go farther away if I started to bother them but they didn't seem to mind. Since I don't have binoculars and my long-distance glasses have about had it (and don't have a camera for those who are wondering) this was a major boon to my infant observational skills. I think what I'm seeing are primarily willets, but don't hold me to that.

One thing that I did identify was all of the cigarette butts on the path leading to the water. They might have come from people having one last puff before recreating, most of them probably did, but in my reading I found out that trash we leave on the street. like cigarette butts, can wash into storm drains and from them to the ocean. So if you smoke, please don't throw the butts and other trash onto the street. Some things we do really are little, and cumulative.

On days of few people the beach attracts/elicits spirituality of all kinds. Wednesday or Thursday someone had written a message about Jesus in the sand. Today I saw a pentagram with a sand dollar in the dead center, and two separate people were doing the yoga poses, Salute to the Sun. I can see why the wild edge of the city, looking out onto open spaces leading to everywhere, with rhythms controlled by the moon and the wind, has this effect.

After I put my two full bread bags into the trash and was in the bathroom washing my hands, I ran into another spiritual person, a friend of a friend who lives across town in some kind of nontraditional housing. She was there to collect bottles, etc. to sell to make part of her living. I talk about consuming less and don't do too badly in that direction, comparatively, but she really walks the walk. We talked about the friend, who I hadn't seen in a while. I need to call her and reconnect. More beach spirituality working it's mojo.