the stillness was shattered and everyone immediately got enlightened.  It was just that simple, really. 

    Some people thought maybe the puppy was Avolokitesvara or Padmasambaba or even the mighty Maitreya Buddha, but he was just an ordinary puppy.  By embodying the beingness of puppyness, a world beyond words opened up and duality was no more.  End of teaching story.

     Enlightenment, or whatever it means to break free of the entanglements of thinking, judging, trying, worrying, planning, explaining, defending, remembering, etc., must be the most surprising of all experiences.

     One full moon night at Limantour Beach, my friend and I wandered down to the surf line to consider if we would actually dunk ourselves and then warm up by the fire.  She was knee deep in the froth when her feet were pulled out from under her and she went down on her rear end and under the foam.  A minute later I was a bit further out watching an incoming wave, thinking I would jump up when it came to me. Instead I got smacked down by a wall of water. When we surfaced and caught each other’s eyes, we couldn’t stop laughing.

     Every now and then we need to be reminded, hopefully without being hurt, that we are not master of the elements, no, no, no.

     I’m sorry, I just can’t get that excited about technology.  Technology is made by people.  By definition that’s a derived reality, a reality that is once removed from the realm of infinite possibility that is nature, the elements, the creatures, and the life force generated through the vastness of the universe.

     It is absolutely true that technology can serve the highest aspirations of humanity, the desire to make human life more comfortable, to help humans know and understand each other, to share culture and knowledge and so on. But being human-made, technology will equally serve the dark side of human possibility. As far as I am concerned, technology necessarily cancels itself out; in other words as good as technology is, so will it be as bad.

     Until we take the evolutionary leap beyond technology, the leap that will take us into the fully immediate experience of the cosmos with our natural senses and expanded consciousness, we have to live in a technology-saturated world. It would help if we didn’t take it so seriously.  Remember “turn on, tune in, drop out”?  That was before iPods. Now one would say, turn off, tune out, drop in. Drop in to immediate, authentic, unexpected experiences and trust yourself to be at home where you are.

     At home where we are is, in this case, a place that offers the lessons of nature with fog and tides and seasonal microclimates.  There is a lot gentleness here even with the power of the Pacific Ocean pounding away.  Warm spells alternate with winters storms in January and hot spells last about three days in the summer. (And no mosquitoes!)  You could say it is a human-friendly environment and you would be right.

     But don’t forget, one of our elements, after earth, fire, air and water, is surprise.