Today, day 3 of our Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan, I got up early and sat on deck for a while before breakfast. I wrote a little, but mainly just looked at the river. There were a few small boats out and lots of birds, all seeking breakfast, I imagine. For the first time since we started this cruise, I had some time to ponder the magnificence of the river and its immeasurable impact. It’s a difficult thing to get one’s mind around. I finally gave up trying to visualize and quantify the millennia of history known here and, instead, cleared my mind and meditated on the Nile. When I stopped grasping at the significance of the place, that significance snuck up on me through some forgotten back door. I resolved to stay passively open for the rest of my tour. Continue reading →