For a warrior, to be harmonious is to flow, not to stop in the middle of the current and try to make a space of artificial and impossible peace. He knows that he can only give the very best of himself under conditions of maximum tension. For that reason, he seeks out his opponent the way a fighting rooster does – with avidity, with delight, knowing that the next step is decisive. His opponent is not his fellow man, but his own attachments and weaknesses, and his grand challenge is to compress the layers of his energy until they won’t expand when his life ceases, so that his awareness does not die.– Carlos Castaneda, Encounters with the Nagual

I always love a good epiphany. That moment when you stare into the abyss and find it staring back at you. The flash of illumination that reminds you that everything is okay and that life will continue to go forward with or without your consent or approval. Such a realization happened the other day when I was walking along the river. I was reflecting upon all of the anger that I’ve had for the past year in the face of what seems like insurmountable global issues that affect us all, many of which I’ve written about. I watched the calm water move with fluidity over rocks, creating little eddies in the shallows, and random fish jumping up creating beautiful ripples across the surface.

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