This is Rod McIver from Heron Dance.
George Grinnell, author of A Death on the Barrens, stopped by for dinner a couple of nights ago.We sat around the fire out back. I asked him what effect his canoe trip of fifty years ago, and the near-death experiences of the group, had on his adult life and how it turned out.
He answered by talking about the relationship between death and enlightenment. "Not all," he said, "but most people, just before they die, see a bright light and are filled with a feeling of deep peace and love—love from God. That light," he said, "is the root of the word enlightenment. That experience of God is the enlightenment that Buddhist monks seek through meditation."
May we each see the light of peace and love for some part of this day!
The book, A Death on the Barrens, looks worthwhile as an exploration of one's self through nature. Nature is the school in which we are placed. It is up to us to open the pages and move our chair.