Transmitting from the Mojave Wilderness in Joshua Tree, California,

now is the time for Desert Oracle Radio, the voice of the desert.

Night has fallen on the desert.

And that's where I am.

The haunted desert.

But haunted by what?

Exactly.

Haunted by everything, really, everything that ever happened,

that ever left its mark upon the landscape physically or psychically.

And a lot of what occurred

was what most people would consider

pretty rough, pretty bad.

But it's in the past.

Our past, anyway, so we are drawn to these places.

We stop the car at a roadside cemetery and hop out to stroll around the tombstones and take pictures.

Especially if it's a graveyard where we don't know anybody.

Although, to be honest, I take the most pictures of the cemeteries where I know a lot of the names.

At least the names, sometimes the people themselves, in memory now.

When I'm in a place where my ancestors are in the ground, I take pictures and spend some time at the gravesites.

Some people find it gloomy, but communing with one's ancestors is probably the oldest form of contemplation.

And contemplation is the key to understanding your own mind your

own psyche meditation has become popular because it promises to get you away

...