This is a video of Sir David Attenborough, exploring the life of insects in the undergrowth.

This is an amazing video of the methods animals employ for survival. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

To anyone that needs help being thankful for the ground they walk upon:

Please enjoy the video below. Narration by Carl Sagan.

It is quite true that this is all we have.

A few days ago, I took a day long trip to see Shomyo Falls. It is a beautiful waterall located on a peak in Mount Tateyama. It was a beautiful day, and very relaxing.

Here are a few technical details:

Shomyo Falls is the tallest waterfall in Japan, however, it’s sibling, Hannoki Falls, visible from the same location (which you will see in some of my photos), is actually taller, but is often disregarded because it’s seasonal. Shomyo Falls drop down four steps, 229 feet, 190 feet, 314 and 413 feet respectively. The pool at the base of the falls is 200 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

Welcome to Shomyo Falls

The weather was lovely, but the clouds were low…or maybe we were quite high up the mountains? I am not sure.

There were butterflies everywhere, it seemed, and mini-waterfalls were on every curve of the path. A wonderful scene.

I have said it before that spending time in nature, a good deal of time, can do wonders for inquiry. Nothing shuts-up the self faster than the wonders of nature!

Try it for yourself this weekend, wherever you are. Wake up early on Saturday, drive to a magnificent area, and spend the day. Inquire into things in that environment.

If you think your “self” is loud, it cannot overcome the beauty of nature. Nothing is louder or more silencing than beauty beyond thought.

The wonders of nature are ceaseless. How many times do we see the real beauty in nature? When was the last time we stopped to see the beautiful design in the spider’s web, or the flowing petals on a rose? The greatest lessons of life are hidden within those delicate patterns if you know how to look; if you can see it for what it is.

I have the same morning routine for most days. I see my niece and nephew off on the school bus Then I will walk around Toyama for anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour and a half. During those walks, I observe my thoughts, if anything happens to be there, and I enjoy the presence of the natural world that surrounds me. It is inevitable to see amazing natural creations of all kinds. Just this morning I saw the most amazing spider’s web. There are cemented trenches all over Toyama, carrying water to the rice fields. The spider constructed its web, covering the inner walls of the trench. The web was wet, and glistened in the morning light. It was alive, vibrating in time with the rushing water. I was there with it; vibrating with it. That direct connection was there all morning.

Now, it is raining here in Toyama. The sound is quite remarkable. There is an unimaginable depth to it. I feel myself renewed in some way, being in the moment while it rains. Every moment brings inevitable destruction, and in that destruction is incredible beauty. I feel an immense joy at the moment of that destruction, which is constant. To be in the moment, is to be forever destroyed. That is where one finds love.

Some have said to me that there must be fear in that destruction. Must there be? Fear can only persist and exist through time and the movement of thought. And while thought has its place, it does not belong in direct perception. It cannot exist in that moment. Seeing from moment to moment is only possible when thought is not interfering. In my own mind, that immensity will arise, and I will be there, left all alone in that beautiful moment. I can still think, and I can still reason. But nothing is interfering with the moment. My wife will be talking, and I will be there, destroyed and reborn at every moment. I can still talk to her, still laugh with her, still be with her, but there is nothing coming between me and her. I see her completely, and she is beautiful. That beauty is within us all.

Beauty is not something known through comparison. If you only know beauty in contrast to what is ugly, then you know nothing. You have not seen what is real. This is not beauty based on a thought or an idea of what beauty is; beauty and love come forth when who we are ceases to interfere. Only then can we have a direct connection to everything that is around us; no matter if it is a chair, or a human. Beauty is timeless (without thought). Try seeing for yourselves.

We are joined with all things, in the end. And the end is where you will be, if you are able to see real beauty.