"Grand" Canyon Isn't Enough

       I've been to the Grand Canyon twice. If you've never been, I implore you to put it on your "things to see before I die" list. No amount of hype would be too much, and no amount of superfluous adjectives would be adequate to convey the grandeur of the place. In fact, the word "Grand" itself falls pathetically short. That's like describing the most powerful orgasm of your life as "okay". But I guess it's the best we can do.
         My dad said that the only place he’d ever been that lived up to the hype were the pyramids at Giza. He never made it to the Grand Canyon, but he would have had to add it to his list. When I’m there, I just stare silently and motionless for what feels like hours, trying to absorb what I’m seeing. It’s literally a completely overwhelming visual experience. Being an astronomy buff, I imagine the Grand Canyon’s astronomical counterpart would be viewing the entire Milky Way galaxy from some planet that lies just outside of it. The effect would be mesmerizing, and just like this earthy equivalent, one could just look at it for hours on end; never getting tired of the view, completely spellbound by something so magnificent that our very beings are so overwhelmed with rapture that we loose all sense of self, all sense of time, all sense of anything and everything.
         Maybe that’s what it is to be one with the universe, one with god, one with everything. And if we can find it in the Grand Canyon, we can find it plenty of other places here too. I guess if you’re really connected, you can find it in anything, and truly live a life at one with all creation.