excerpts from the moleskine, Santorini edition

We’re three hours into our ferry ride to Santorini, on the top deck watching the sun slowly sink beneath the waves. It’s a beautiful evening to be outside.

My fourth summer in Greece, on my fourth trip to Santorini, it can’t quite be reality.

On a wall in Oia watching the sunset. There are a million tourists around, but the scene and the moment are both too beautiful.

Even with all the tourists, it is still otherworldly, the rugged surreal beauty of the place forces you to confront the realities of your life. It is a distinct experience, your life reduced to its most basic of emotions and principles. One cannot help but contemplate the meaning of it all when surrounded by such utter beauty. A tourist on the boat just asked his companion if she liked Santorini, and I laugh to myself. It isn’t a matter of liking the island, it is about being aware enough of one’s self to accept and embrace the rawness of such a place. Santorini, when done right, will awaken the potential of your life - will make you realize exactly why life is worth living – and hopefully inspire enough change to make a difference.

I have been totally swept away, pulled back into the atmosphere of the island. This is how it seems my life should feel. I will be striving, endlessly it seems, to make my home life seem as meaningful as it does to be here. It will be a life’s journey, to bring a bit of Hellas into my every day.

We’re leaving Santorini today – it still seems slightly surreal that I’ve been here four times now – that I have had this beauty in my life. I have to say goodbye to this place again – and that is never easy.

~RLM

Comments

[Melody]

I got this from a mailing list I am on. I thought it a great representation of what you conveyed in the post above:

Go Deep

Most of us think too much, especially about events and people, local and global, famous and not so famous. When we are always thinking about what is happening on the surface of life, the visible, then it is as if we are living a superficial life. And when two people who both live on the surface meet, the exchange, the conversation, is superficial, sometimes totally bereft of meaning. Often it leaves us totally unsatisfied. And as we share news of our surface observations, we come to know our own superficiality, but we are not strong enough to resist it. Deep down inside there is a voice, a longing, a calling to depth. It's our heart, reminding us to visit, explore and express the depths of our ourselves. Everyone has depth but we confuse the heart with emotion, and forget that emotion is the result of getting too close to events on the surface. So one of our deepest needs, which is to go in deep, is seldom satisfied. Going deep and being deep requires time spent in solitude, some periods of introversion and a conversation with ourselves. We only know what is at the bottom of the ocean by going there, diving deep and switching on a light and looking through the lens of a camera. The results are images of depth. How on earth will we ever see what is in our heart unless we dive deep inside, switch on the light and look. Those who do will tell you it changes everything. What do they see? Simple, only beauty and truth. They are always there, waiting for us to return. Waiting to welcome us and to introduce ourselves to ourself.