More and more I learn about the importance of the land where we live.  We moved a great deal when I was growing up, as did my husband’s family, and yet, when the two of us came to Marin, we knew this was “it”.  I looked out on the ridge and knew I was home.

The Coast Miwok lived here, peacefully.  It’s a peaceful, nourishing, nurturing place.

In my meditation today, what came up was Mr. Wheelwright who donated the land where Green Gulch Farm Zen Center now beckons and thrives.  He and his wife had lived happily there, and he wanted the land to continue to be loved and cared for.  It’s on the other side of the ridge from where I live, flowing down to the Pacific.  

I think of what brings happiness. When I was in Nepal, I read Dominique LaPierre’s book The City of Joy, about life in a slum in Calcutta and the joy he found there.

Musk wants to go to Mars. I wonder if Mars wants him.  Perhaps we need the devastation he’s creating to bring us together and remind us what matters.  It’s one planet, bound together economically, and morally, and not by the egos of a few.