August 18, 2014 - Turtle Wisdom

Last night I dreamt I was the ocean.  I wrapped myself around the whole world and all the land.  I enveloped large continents and tiny little nooks within coral as well, and I felt the presence of each, regardless of size.  One was not more important or desirable than the other.  Each had its own feel and was unique, but each was a part of the whole.  Each gave tiny little pieces of itself to me as gifts.  And I loved those gifts!  I put them on like a new dress and swirled them around to see how I looked.  I sparkled everywhere!

I went on the shore of each piece of land to talk to the land and the people.  They all loved me, but they did not all love one another.  Some did not even know of the existence of others, and this confused me.  How could they not know of one another since they were all connected in one way or another on top of me or within my depths?  To me it was all one thing, but to the continents and islands and people it was thousands of separate things.

I sat on a rock in the Gulf of Maine to think about it all.  By and by, a tiny turtle came by and sat down with me.  He asked me what was bothering me and I told him.  “How could each piece of land think it was separate,” I asked, “when in fact they are all connected through the depths of me?”

The ocean hugs the shore.

“And what are you connected to?” the little turtle asked.

“Me?  Well, I’m all around the whole Earth,” I answered.

“But what supports you and keeps you here?”

“Well, there is the core of the Earth, and then I’m all around that to varying degrees, and then the land is above me.”

“So you support the land?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“But it also supports you?”

“Well….yes, I guess it does, more sort of internal parts of the land support me.”

“But it’s still the land underneath you and above you, right?” he asked.

“Yes.  I suppose it is,” I said.

“Hmmm….what supports that land and keeps it here?” he asked.

“You mean the whole planet?  Well that’s revolving in space around the sun.”
“So space supports it?”
“I suppose in a way, it does,” I said.

“And there are other planets?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“And what supports them?”

“Space, I guess, gravitational pull, that kind of thing,” I said.

“And are they separate?” he asked.

“The planets?  Well, yes, of course.”
“Are they?” he asked. “Even though they are supported by the same space, which is all around them?”

“Ahhhh,” I said, “I think I see what you mean.  So space is the ocean that supports the planets just as I am the ocean that supports the continents on Earth?”

“I think so.”
“So space and I are the same in essence, just removed by several degrees?”
“It would appear so,” he said.

We sat for a while on the rock, not talking.  The sun came out from behind a cloud and warmed us both, and it felt so inviting.  I found myself wondering how a tiny turtle could be so clever and figure this all out when it never would have occurred to me.  I decided I would have to pay more attention to my visits with the turtles.

“There is one thing I’ve always wondered about,” the turtle said.
“What’s that?”

“Well if space supports the planets just as you support the continents, what supports space?  You’re ultimately supported by the whole planet, so what ultimately supports all of the space out there?”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said.

“Maybe you should.”

“You’re an odd little fellow.”

“I know,” he said.

And with that, he slipped off within my depths.