Like the timeless rise of smoke drifting heavenward from the smoldering ashes of a fire, we are connected to deeper selves, to the past. We are of the past.

The sun sets in a crimson, tangerine, and inky sapphire sky as voluminous and prismatic clouds eke slowly past. A tribe of nomads huddles around a blazing and crackling fire, sharing stories, tearing and chewing cooked meat, laughing and savoring their intrinsic camaraderie. A group of campers gathers closely together as the circumscribing forest presses tightly around them. They whisper ghost stories, roast S'mores, laugh, and savor their intrinsic camaraderie. A small family joins hands around the hearth as the cold winter snaps and freezes around them: their home is a snug and glowing bubble in the icy weather. They reminisce about old times, share a meal, laugh, and savor their intrinsic camaraderie. We are all connected to one another in spoken, unspoken, knowable, and unknowable ways.

As the drums of our hearts beat out the tattoos of ceremonies past, so too patter our feet on the dusty and well-trammeled paths of life. Countless billions have walked before, and countless billions will walk after us, but together we all walk, hands clasped and faces forward to the future. We are all one.