A couple of senior citizens consulted a very experienced medico. The wife, a retired nurse, told the medico that her husband was depressed, and needed a pill. After examining the husband, the doctor said that the man did not seem clinically depressed, and refused him any medication. He advised instead that the couple spend the next 6 weeks at the nearby beach, and enjoy the health -enriching ambience there. The couple stormed out.
The therapeutic effect of spending time regularly at the seaside is patently obvious. One’s eyes, ears, lungs, and soul could benefit from that experience. Breathing the ozone, tasting the salt in the air, watching the never-ending movement of the water, hearing the varying sounds as the sea kissed, slapped or pounded the beach encourages a meditative mood. In this mood, one could contemplate the complexity of the Cosmos, and seek to commune with our Creator.
I personally do like a one-to-one contemplative relationship with God – with no ritual, and no intermediary priest, as well as others attending a religious service interrupting this silent communion.
Contemplation by the seaside would assist in combating stress, or even in countering the debilities of advancing age. For instance, I overcame my anger and helplessness after being exposed to ongoing harassment by a racist neighbour, and who had fenced off a sliver of my land (narrowing my driveway) as his property.
The sight from my desk of the sea in all its moods at any time during daylight, and hearing it 24/7 when it is either sibilantly chatty or more rumbustious, countered any depressing thoughts and anger which surfaced; and aided by a dollop of good quality Scotch at bedtime.
Advanced age does, of course, require some medication to ensure that necessary organs are functioning as well as may be expected. But one can counter, to a large extent, physical pain through mind control. Spiritual peace too reduces the need for pills.
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 