Snapple bottle cap found at Rengstorff Park,
Mountain View during satsang (7-25-2014)

The Letter S: Sufi Spins Shhh!— Speech is silver but silence is gold— Satsang with a friend on soul and spirit under Sequoia sempervirens in the park with a small sparrow and squirrel nearby and a newly found "S" bottle cap from Snapple that may unveil seals, signals, and symbols of secret societies meant only for initiates— "G" for Freemasons & "322" for Skulls & Bones. Music of Satie, Schubert, and Schumann, paintings of Sengai, Seurat, and Shitao, poetry of Sappho, Shu Shi, and Shakespeare may inspire our soul to the Supreme Spirit. The sage sits under a shady sycamore teaching students to strive for the sublime— seek the state between thoughts, source of silence, then do nothing and let Grace bless your life. See the Shroud of Turin, hear a Zen shout, dance Sufi spins, or simply sit still— shatter our senses to sudden satori so sleepers awake on that other shore— not one's little ego but the Cosmic Self— beyond space-time, infinite and eternal, not leaves shaking on trees during a storm but the sturdy sap streaming through it all. On a street named Straight, Saul regained his sight, became Saint Paul to spread the message of Christ. The snow-covered street lamp casts a slim shadow and six swallows soar from treetops to the sky. The Supreme Self is limitless unbounded space where galaxies spiral slowly as ships at sea or the silent silver screen unperturbed, serene in scorching fire or storms of sleet. A shepherd tends sheep, swans glide in streams, a sunflower sways softly in the sunshine— I stroll slowly in serene solitude and sit still chanting Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.             — Peter Y. Chou                 Mountain View, 10-25-2014