The Mountain in the Sea

by Ray Nayler

We came from the ocean, and we only survive by carrying salt water with us all our lives—in our blood, in our cells. The sea is our true home. This is why we find the shore so calming: we stand where the waves break, like exiles returning home. —Dr. Ha Nguyen, How Oceans Think

The smell of fresh coffee managed to push back the scent in the lobby of gun oil, ozone, mold, and neglect. An overcast early light came through the windows,

Images came to Ha of the Chinese-Mongolian Winter War. Burned corpses lacquered in ice. Charred, frozen skeletons shattered like glass by concussion rounds. The fingerless hands of veterans.

How we see the world matters—but knowing how the world sees us also matters.

This society—what we call modern society, what we always think of as the most important time the world has ever known, simply because we are in it—is just the sausage made by grinding up history.

Communication is communion. When we communicate with others, we take something from them into ourselves, and give them something of ours.