The symbolism of a sacred mountain is full of intimations of meditation. It is a state of strong immovability, of perfect balance; a state in which all motion hangs suspended, not in death or inertia but in that great stillness that is the origin and resolution of all things... Any mountain that is sacred is a symbol of the Centre: that point where divine reality impinges on profane reality. The true Centre, the real seat of the great mystery of ultimate reality, resides in our heart.
Both of our families had ben crippled to some degree by prejudice, personal trauma, and tragedy, but in the most important ways both ranches had endured. So it wasn't what we did for a living that counted, nor what kind of china we dined on, nor what our houses looked like. Nor, in this one sense, did our skin color even matter very much. What counted most through the generations far more than any other factor, was how we treated those we loved and how well we loved That seemed the transcendent lesson or moral my search had revealed