As I look around me, I see the sapphire blue of sky and a sparkling lake, the green shades of trees, the swooping arcs of gulls, and the clean hardness of rocks. And I sense that only in opening my eyes wide enough to see that the world is a living poem and not dead matter, can I begin to know reality. Then I can embrace a real and natural world that embraces me. And perhaps our salvation ultimately lies less in technology than in the simplicity of that timeless embrace—pondering a sunset, smelling a flower, planting a tree, beholding all of life with wonder and reverence.

From my book Paddle Whispers.