A sagacious man stood by the side of a lake, the Lake of Life. He looked out over the water and contemplated things, much in the way that elderly people like to sit and contemplate things. He saw that the water was placid and smooth, the surface completely undisturbed. The water was too dull and flat, so the wise old man set things in motion. He picked up a stone, and gently threw it into the water. The stone flew over the surface and tremendously splashed as it was submerged. It was a small stone, but the splash was tremendous all the same. From the splash came resonating ripples. The ripples fanned outward going in every direction. However, the stone quickly sank to the bottom. The man saw the beauty of the ripples and threw in more stones. Some were large and rough, others small and smooth, each with a different kind of splash, but all still having a splash. Now there were many ripples and splashes, for the man was throwing the stones at a speed unconventional for his old age. Stones were falling very close to each other, and some splashes were so great they overpowered others. Some stones landed far away and their ripples never reached the other stones. The man stopped to look at what he had created and smiled. The ripples created a beautifully woven tapestry of infinite complexity and intricacy. It was unique in its own inimitability and that no one could every repeat or undo what he had just done. The man’s quest for something to do had given him a quest to create. Now suddenly understanding every part of and yet absolutely nothing of what he had just done, the man raised his arms and willed that stones fall from the sky. The stones all landed in the Lake of Life. Thousands of splashes occurred. Every ripple acted on another ripple and caused it to slow to nothing, or swell into a crest. The man marveled at the beauty and wanted to become one with it in perpetual harmony. He threw himself into the lake and he himself made a splash. The raining stones fell on him and he too died, but his ripples resonated onward…