"Infintity; A Hush Collab Project"
September 30, 2001, 8:19 p.m.

This is a "Hush"collaboration project for September, 2001.
Write about a time you felt infinite. When you felt, if only for a moment, that all was right. Or when you thought there was no greater feeling in the world than the one you were experiencing.

This is difficult. To share about an experience, a purely subjective experience, in such a way that the reader can truly "get" the impact of the experience on the writer - is not easy to do.

I have thought long and hard for many days about how I can convey the impact of an outwardly simple experience with the depth and complexity it deserves.

How can one describe the ocean and the power of the ocean to someone who has never seen, heard of or even been in the ocean. No words could do it justice. It would be like reading a menu, instead of eating the meal.

But, I shall try.

One balmy day in Spring a few years ago, I decided to sit outside and meditate. The weather was mild and the wind was delicate and cool. I wanted to be a part of it.

I chose to sit under a big oak tree in my back yard. The tree was old and tall and sturdy. I sat cross-legged, leaned my back against the tree's massive trunk and closed my eyes. Breathing deeply and slowly, I tried to clear my mind of thought.

The meditation practice I chose was one of mindfulness which can be a very sensual type of meditation. It is not about thought, it is about an awareness of all.

As I sat under the tree I began to become aware of the slight breeze that tickled the hairs on my skin and the how the sun warmed me as each passing cloud floated by. The echoed songs of birds filled my ears.

After awhile, I became slowly aware the tree itself, how it supported me and how it moved under me. The tree seemed to breath, in and out. It seemed to hold and caress me with each inhale - each exhale of breath. I felt as if the tree was hugging me.

It was in that moment - that experience - that I felt a kinship with the earth - with life, and I felt part of greater ongoing whole.

I was under a spell and I could not break it. I knew it. I was aware that I was part of the tree, the tree was me and I was it. I was the earth, I was the breeze, I was the warmth of sun, I was the ant crawling on my foot. We were all the same molecules and atoms of life expressed in different energies.

There was no time in that sitting. There was no before and there was no after. There just was what was.

It was simply a very brief moment of infinity.