I'm an easy target for quotes that reconcile the dual nature of existence, and this one by Simone Weil has been particularly meaningful to me, because it unfolded an additional perspective of love, of a lack of separation from the sea when I look out onto it.

Living on an island for the last four years has given me a chance to appreciate the sea in a different way. Yes, it is vast, it is unfathomable and unforgiving, full of life and destruction. But those are simply thoughts that my conscious mind imparts when I'm not just looking at it. And looking, simply gazing out onto the sea is a vastly different way to experience the sea than to think about all the things that it means or all the things that happen in it.

And I think it can be a really interesting exercise in living. To see something before me, anything at all, and bask in it without thought or judgment like I do sometimes before the sea, is a heart-opening act of love. And these experiences can be a teacher on how to feel awe. Sure, it's easier to do so when confronted with something so much bigger than I am, like an ocean, a sky full of stars, or a great cathedral. The challenge is to experience that same feeling in what I see every day, in the common place things, too.