Our way of thinking, and hence our way of looking out upon the world, has become a closed loop system. The process—our particular take on it that is—has been going on for centuries and has culminated in where we are today, frantically busy ‘managing’ our environment and way of life and urging more and more ‘education’ upon our young so they may join the frenetic race we’ve created for ourselves. 

  But here and there through the decades and centuries voices have arisen counselling quiet and departure from the hectic round of modern activity. Today pockets of it are everywhere, in yoga studios and meditation retreats, in ashrams and New Age Happenings, and it underlies whatever it is that goes on here at the Omphalos Cafe. 

  Once I had a vision of a place in the mountains where like-minded souls could visit and commune with Nature’s majesty, hiking the hills and returning tired and exhilarated with the day’s exertions. An Omphalos Cafe Mountain Retreat I suppose. 

  That hasn’t come to pass, and I’m in no way disappointed. 

  Each one of us must find his or her own place of quiet and repose before we can join with others. Otherwise things quickly deteriorate and go to smash. If we want a perfect world—and some have even been rash enough to assert that this right here IS the perfect world—we need work and sacrifice for it everyday. 

  That, to me, is the very condition of Life. 

  Outside the loop…