These great pock-marked boulders and rocks along the edge of the Sea of Tiberias (aka Galilee, Gennesaret) were born of volcanic activity and smoothed by water over the geologic millennia. How attentive Polenov is to their appearance. What delight he takes in the world! Look at how transparent the water is along the left forefront corner — as if we could step into the sea and pick out a stone. Notice the very thin horizontal shoreline on the far side of the lake, and the haze over the water.
Notice too the ruts in the hills. And when the wind blows, those ruts act like funnels, creating sudden and great storms — the kind that we read of in Mt 8:23-27, Mk 4:35-41, Lk 8:22-25. And here is Jesus walking in this ancient world. Polenov wrote that he wanted to convey Jesus, "who has truly come to earth, and is following his path among the people." Vasily shows us Jesus, literally walking along a narrow seaside path.
But I have a life-path to walk too. There are challenges. Buddhism teaches that at the root of every suffering we can find one or more of these dangerous poisons: greed (all our lusts, thirsts, uncontrolled desires), anger (the passions of hatred, contention, resentment), ignorance (even stupidity: conspiracy, lies, idolatry of persons, rejection of knowledge, "buying into" the ridiculous). There are of course antidotes to these toxins: compassion, generosity, peacemaking, learning.
St. Paul writes in the Letter to the Romans: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and mature." Romans 12:2
Years ago I came across this fitting prayer in the Cathedral of Durham, England. Actually, it is titled, Prayer for the Lighting of a Candle.
O Christ our Savior,
shed your light upon the path I have to tread,
that I may keep it without stumbling and without faltering,
and come in the end to see you face to face
in the heavenly kingdom.
Amen
