Do you hear it?

Laying on the beach in the sun with just enough breeze to cool without need of a long sleeve shirt is one of my favorite places to fall asleep.  Especially after so many weeks of rain and gloom, a visit to Goat Rock was particularly welcome!

I didn't actually sleep this time on the beach, just a kind of luminous lucidity that allowed me to listen differently.

Usually, when meditating on beach sounds (live or recorded) I bring my attention back to the sound of the crashing waves.  Today, I heard something else.  A constant low din that seemed steady, without rising or falling.  I can't say it was background or foreground.  It was just constant.  At times it kind of sounded like a freight train in the distance, but not so ominous, foreboding or melancholy.  It was comforting.  When listening to the sound of waves, there is a rise and fall of sound and emotion - naturally.  The sound I heard on the beach did not evoke rising or falling.

The metaphor seemed obvious to me - what is a constant in my life, behind or within the ups and downs, the ebbs and flows?  Within those parts that generally vie most for my attention, what is there, constant?

It seems there may not be just one thing, one constant, but many that make up the inner outer connection - a thread.   Shall I call it Love, God, the Divine, Allah, Buddha, Spirit, or uncertainty, change, impermanence and paradox.

What do you call it?  Do you hear it too?