There is a big story going on, a universe story and a deep personal story speaking just outside of our normal modes of perception. I sense that whatever any of us are living now, the stories that we understand and can tell about our lives are like looking through a key hole and telling only the tiny bit we can gather from that point of vision. I believe there is a grand design, I believe in past lives and that the stories we play out every day are completing and fulfilling a much deeper story than our current brain power and modes of perception will allow us to understand. And I believe in the essential goodness of the universe, and that every possible thing is leading us toward that good.

I remember hearing that one of Einstein’s basic questions was, “Is the universe a friendly place or not.” I have long been moved by that question and I have pondered it through life’s travails. But I sense that it is friendly, and good, and that love is the basic element. That is what my experience leads me to conclude, not thought or belief.

I feel cracked open by the death of my dog, and out of the opening I guess the need emerges to proclaim such statements as these. The Animal Hospital of Waynesville which has done Coco’s veterinary care since I moved here and who helped me in his final moments sent a card in the mail that I opened tonight. It had a sincere note of sympathy from all of the 16 doctors and staff that worked there in it. They talked about him like he was their friend too and expressed such heartfelt sympathy. I cried through reading every note. This is a good universe. I do believe this.