Aozasayama. October 26th. My two hiking buds got into a conversation that went on for a while and I ended up out front, walking a good bit of the way by myself.

It was good. I like them both so much. I kept smiling thinking how easily they must have been talking. And it was a good chance for me to focus on everything all around.

It’s a new amazement every hike–all the things to see.

All the things all around you.

ALL AROUND YOU (Take 1)

If you have the time / To come along with me

The will to climb / To where you can see

If you have the mind / To set yourself free

You might feel sublime / Know your reality . . .

. . . all around you. / It’s all around you.

Would you dare to press / Your bare feet to mine?

Did you hear the moss confess / That we too are divine?

Can you recognize / A fallen leaf’s equal worth?

Can you fill your eyes / With this lovely Mother Earth?

All around you / Yeah, she’s all around you.

Have you surely surmised / No need to kill the moon?

Fully realized / The sun won’t die so soon?

Have you learned to prize / A shadow on a leaf?

Not to be chastised / By some commander-in-chief?

They’re all around you / Yeah, they’re all around you.

Have you heard them say / That we’re dumber than the dead?

And have you heard them pray / For God to put them at the head?

And have you heard them laugh / At your unwillingness to fight?

The way they speak on your behalf / Keeps you wondering through the night.

They’re all around you / Oh, yes, they’re all around you.

When we look around / Do we see non-duality?

When we walk this ground / Feel it caressing all these trees?

Scrambling up this slope / Striding toward the sky,

Do we know a tree limb’s hope / Don’t need to ask it why?

This infinite energy— / It’s what we really are.

And oh, how amazingly, / You exploded from a star!

Now you’re all around you.

Yeah, you’re all around you.

Oh, yes, you’re all around you.