2 ... Gabriel Morristo act as a mirror, reflecting the self. In this case, it was an anxious,
yet expectant self I witnessed. I was there to take a good, hard look
within, willing to face whatever I found—and then hopefully man-
age to transform it.
The sun was beginning to go down as I threw a tarp on the ground
and rolled out my sleeping bag. I cooked a quick meal on my camp-
ing stove, crawled into my sleeping bag and lay on my back, watch-
ing the stars, staring into the darkness and thinking about infinity.
How could the universe go on forever? The very thought of for-
ever was too immense to even attempt to comprehend. And yet,
how could it just end? Neither possibility seemed like an acceptable
option. There seemed to be no compromise between these two ex-
tremes, yet there was no other plausible answer to that fundamental
scientific, and philosophical, question: Does the universe end some-
how, somewhere? The only resolution seemed to be in accepting
that I didn’t know and could never truly grasp the nature of the uni-
verse within the confines of my rational mind.
Well, then, to hell with reason! If reason was what stood between
myself and the mystery of the universe, then I would just have to let
it be shattered by the stark truth of not-knowing and leap straight
into the depths of infinity—my own awareness of being. For what
was more mysterious than that? Perhaps the answer was easier to
find within anyway. Even with the most powerful telescopes, we
couldn’t reach the edges of the universe. But with the heart or the
soul, could I find a different sort of answer to that age-old question?
Either way, I knew that was where I needed to focus my energies
and look for discoveries. Peering out into the vastness of the stars
was almost like peering into your own soul anyway. It sure as hell
makes you think, question, and wonder.
I slept long and hard and awoke to the sun rising from the desert floor,
drying the dew from my sleeping bag. I had another bowl of granola for
breakfast and then packed up and continued down the dusty road.
That evening, I came across a free and almost empty campground,
in the middle of eastern Oregon, with desert all around. I found a