What is the meaning of life? It's a question we all ponder at some point, and perhaps never really understand until we're faced with it's inevitable end and the comprehension that brings.

A chance encounter on the chairlift with a legend of the outdoor industry, and also a great guy.

The drops fell rhythmically, metronomically, glassy orbs of exquisite beauty slipping into an icy abyss. I was transfixed, hypnotized by the simplicity, the sublimity, the entrancing meditation and profound power of it all, knowing these drops began as vapor carried from distant lands, fell as snow, melted, and would follow me and my companions some 1,600 miles to the Bay of Bengal, there to be heated, evaporated, condensed, and fall once more on yet another far away place.

From Swami Vivekananda to philosopher Ken Wilber, physicist Alan Lightman to rebel environmentalist Ed Abbey, today's "Thursday Thought" about contemplating Oneness in a world that insists on duality.