Desert Pilgrimmage

I love the ocean, the mountains, the snow, the breakers on the beach. I am happy in these places, they gratify my attachments to material, intellectual and emotional desires.

That’s one kind of happiness.

There is another kind. It comes as a result of detaching from desires and needs. It comes from stripping away all that is not self. The pinnacle of that happiness is enlightenment.

That is the kind of happiness I taste in the desert. It can be an intense experience, but in that sense of happiness, there is nowhere I would consider to be a happier place.

And so, this is a response to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, which this week is Happy Place.