When speaking about the nature of reality, I often use various analogies. I use analogies for several reasons, but one of the primary reasons is because it is truly impossible to put what is into words. It can’t be done. Not precisely. Not accurately. One reason for this is that words separate. When I call a tree “a tree”, I am giving a name to something so that I can treat it as a separate individual object. I’m now treating this named “tree” as a separate object, when in reality it isn’t a separate object at all!
The tree is not separate from its environment. Really, there is only the environment. The tree as a separate object doesn’t actually exist. What I have decided to name “tree” is part of the whole environment. It is one with its environment. It IS its environment.
Tiny Scalpels
Words and names are like tiny scalpels. They slice and dice one body, one whole, into parts. Words separate. Therefore, words perpetuate the illusion of separation. However, it is words we must use to communicate to one another (of course there are many other forms of communication, but language, spoken or written words, is the foremost and most precise method for human beings on a practical, daily basis). So, I use words to attempt to describe to people the nature of reality; yet, it is something that cannot accurately be put into words! Of course, I do the best I can, as perfectly imperfect it may be.
Let me use tiny scalpels to attempt to give you a couple analogies of reality that are designed to put the pieces back together.
Waves of the Ocean
One of the analogies I often use (and therefore won’t go into too much detail or spend too much time on) is the analogy of the ocean and its waves. I’m sure this is one of my favorites because of my love for the ocean and my passion for surfing. I’ve lived on an island for several years now. I moved here because I’ve always had an unexplainable draw to the ocean and to the art of surfing. From as long as I can remember I’ve had this pull. Living on an island and a few blocks from the beach, I see the beach everyday. I watch the waves, I listen to its sounds, I breathe in the salty air.
We look at the waves of an ocean and know that we are watching the process and energy of one body of water. We are watching the ocean waving. For someone to look at a wave and think of it as something separate from the ocean would be absurd. Naming this phenomenon a “wave” hasn’t separated it from the ocean in reality. The distinction is in our minds alone. “Wave” is a word, not a separate entity. Therefore, this of course, and very obviously, means that the wave IS the ocean. Waves are simply the ocean waving. There isn’t the water of the wave and the water of the ocean. There is simply the water, the ocean.
Likewise, every supposed “thing” that we are tempted to believe is a separate “thing” is really a wave. You’re a wave, I’m a wave, and every other being is also a wave. The tree is a wave. We’ve just applied names to these waves which has given us the false idea of being separate entities. I’ve been named “Rick”, you have a name, the tree is named “tree”, and so forth. Yet, “Rick” is a wave, you are a wave, and the tree is a wave. And, just as the waves we see on the surface of the ocean cannot be separated from the ocean, and are in fact, the ocean itself, we too cannot be separated from the ocean of being.
If we think of existence as the one ocean of being, every supposed “wave” that exists is in fact the ocean of being itself! That makes me not a separate wave of the ocean of being; that makes me THE ocean of being. I am the water, I am the ocean of being itself. I am existence itself. I am the energy, the universe itself. You are too. The tree is also existence.
This means that when you touch a tree, you are touching not a separate entity that exists by itself, but you’re actually touching the whole of existence waving in the form of the “tree”. When you sit next to your partner, spouse, friends, or even a stranger, you are sitting next to not a separate entity existing all by itself, but you are sitting next to the whole of existence waving in the form of that “human being”. When you look in the mirror, you are not looking at a separate person. You are looking at the cosmic energy of all things flowing in the form of “you”!
YOU ARE EXISTENCE ITSELF! You’re the water; you’re the ocean of being; the ocean waving; waving at itself in the mirror saying, “There I am!”
We Are All Paint
Let me give you a second analogy. My daughter is an incredible artist. I have several of her paintings throughout the house. A couple of my favorites are of scenes of waves she painted for me for Father’s Day last year. They’re just beautiful, and I absolutely adore them!
If you were to visit and begin looking at these paintings, I might ask you, “What do you see?” You would most likely reply, “I see water, some waves, clouds, and even the nose of a surfboard in one of them.” I might follow up, “Ok, but what do you really see?” You might reply with a more detailed report: “The wave is curling over, and there’s a bit of water spray happening here… The water is calm in this one and has a nice water-like pattern to it!” I may shock you when I then say, “No no no! What do you REALLY see? You’re not looking deeply. Look deeply and tell me what you actually see!”
Do you really see a wave when you look at a painting of a wave? Are you seeing a surfboard, water, or the spray of the wave? Of course not. What we’re actually seeing are the patterns of paint on a canvas. “What do you REALLY see?” The answer is that you see paint.
In this analogy, existence/reality is a painting. Look at the world around you, and what do you see? You may see trees, people, buildings, dirt, cars, birds, dogs, broccoli, computers, streams, ants… Yet, if I tell you to look deeply, to look deeply at the world around you. Look deeply at yourself. Look deeply at a flower. What is it that we are really seeing? What we are really seeing is energy!
All that exists is the cosmic energy of existence. Energy taking on the forms that we call collections of matter. The inseparable flowing process of cosmic energy. We are paint taking on the forms and patterns of waves and surfboards and ocean sprays. We are the paint, the energy that makes up the painting, the universe, existence. Yet, being the paint, being the energy, makes us inseparable from the painting itself, from the whole of existence! It indeed makes us the painting, it makes us existence!
The Heart Sutra says something like “form is emptiness and emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness” The painting is paint, paint is the painting. The universe is energy, and energy is the universe. You are energy, and energy is you. You are existence, and existence is you! The tree is energy, and energy is the tree. Every supposed “thing” is not a “thing” at all! Everything is the whole, and the whole is everything!
There is existence, all that exists. There is the painting. Don’t think of existence, or in this analogy the painting, as something separate from you or even something you’re in or have been placed in. That would be like the wave in my daughter’s painting thinking itself as being separate from the painting. There is no separation between you and existence. When you look deeply, the whole idea of “you” is merely a separatory thought. The real “you” is all that exists. The real “you” is Existence itself! The real YOU is existence flowing in the form of a body, mind, consciousness, and ego in this moment. The flowing of energy creating a whirlpool that has been imagined to be a separate entity named “Rick”, or whatever your name is. The whirlpool is a pattern. It’s a happening of the whole! The real you is that very whole. Existence itself.
Look Deeply in the Mirror
Do you recognize yourself? Do you realize who you REALLY are? I don’t mean the name, or the ego. Those are illusions of separation. They exist, but not as separate realities or entities! They exist as the flow of cosmic energy that forms them. You are not a name or an ego.
What you are really is all that exists! You are Existence. You are the Energy flowing through and as all things. You are the Ocean of Being. You are the Universe. That is the deep reality. That is your true nature. That is YOU.
“We” Are One
Many people say, “We are all one.” But, do they really know what that means? Are they looking deeply to see the reality behind that phrase? We are all one, but “we” is an illusion. “We” are truly one! Existence itself coming on as “we”.
So, who are you really? If there’s a question to ask, that is it. “Who am I?” Look deeply. No no no, I mean look DEEPLY. What do you find?
Words Words Words
I’ve made a brief attempt to put into words what cannot ultimately be put into words. If you look deeply into what I’ve said here, and you become aware, deeply aware of the reality being expressed, not just intellectually, but in a deep experiential way that transcends the average process of intellectual understanding and looking, you will wake up. This is waking up. This is what many call “enlightenment”, “nirvana”, “awakening”. But, it goes beyond the words. This is a direct pointing to the ultimate reality. Existence itself. I’m pointing to YOU.
Tell me what you experience in this attempt of mine in the comments below or by reaching out through the contact form at Welcome Home.
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