Spiritual Lessons from Biology

While i was living in Wellington, NZ, i'd often walk down to the harbor after work.  It was hard working 30 hours per week as a maid in the hotel, on top of the rigorous field research i was doing for my Master's degree in conservation biology.  But there beside the glittering harbor with the crying gulls and the lonely chink-chink of rocking ships nestled in their ports, i could forget my worries. On a particularly gray and blustery day i walked out onto the stone pier to watch the white caps moving across the seawater.  i stood in the cold and the howling din, drinking in the stormy scenery.  Suddenly a great explosion of mist plumed up from the water just beside me!  i leapt out of my skin!  There a massive orca appeared from the blackness, just for a moment, and disappeared again.  A dozen dorsal fins rose up at once, cutting through the wrinkled mirror of the water like black knives.  They changed course and made for something s...