How We See the World – A Water Analogy

Let’s talk water……

We understand its forms of gas, liquid, and solid, as we see them in our world every day. We see water variously being water vapour in the air as steam and clouds, liquid water in rivers and lakes, and the life giving ocean, and ice, in everything from ice cubes to icebergs….. and its forms are simply due to its difference in temperature and the density of its molecules to each other. And we understand that they are all water. We see they are all of the same nature, yet look like totally different things, depending only on their circumstances ….. We also know that these different states are actually like a spectrum… like a rainbow…. with varying states ranging from red to violet... and then violet to red…. gaseous to solid…. solid to gaseous….

The ancients had various states like metal, fire, water, earth, and wood. We understand things scientifically as gas, liquid and solid, and we know that these things are made up in groups of molecules, which are groups of atoms, which are made of protons, neutrons and electrons, which are made up of quarks….. (oversimplified a bit 🙂 )

We also know that many processes and systems which we can see, are mirrors or analogous to other things which we don’t see. We as humans, relate one thing to another in comparisons, which is mostly what makes this universe somewhat intelligible to us. It can also be the source of much of our confusion, when we incorrectly relate or connect one thing to another.

From this point of view, it isn’t really difficult to imagine, the thing which we refer to as “spirit” is one “state” of reality, and the “solid body” as another “state”, and the whole spectrum forming “One Reality”.

The main point is, these various states are not separate states, warring against each other, as is commonly understood, spirit vs. flesh, but are rather two of the various states of one being. I would hazard to say (from personal experience… so it is IMHO), that humans…. and in fact, all “sentient beings”, are aware of both, living in a “quantum world” and a “solid world” simultaneously. (which are different forms of the same essence) 

Perhaps the awareness of a “spirit” awakens with our self-awareness, as in the tale of Adam and Eve. This “spirit” or “soul” somehow seems to be separate from our body. Perhaps something which might outlast the bodies lifetime….. Possibly this is the reason for the two states, being thought of as having a chasm between them…. different substances… separate worlds….. But the further science digs into the makeup of the universe, the more they will find that the two cannot be pulled apart.

The level of awareness which a person experiences this, is based on our accepting or blocking of this situation…. it seems all those who practice a form of silence, experience this. As this One Reality, and One Essence, interpenetrates the various states of “being”, its voice can be heard by those who are willing to listen. And it is not the possession of religion, but rather a part of nature, open to all as their birthright ….. poets such as Wordsworth, Emerson, Blake, Coleridge are a few examples of humans who have experienced nature in what they termed “mystical states”.  These experiences are not at all mystical, just as the spirit and the body are of the same essence, in a sense, children of the same essence, …. natural….. a part of nature in its many forms……

In this was of seeing the world, there is no reason to escape our life “inside or out”……… Our inner life is one aspect, and our physical life is another aspect of the same being….. as my dad used to say…… spend some time alone each day…. be quiet with yourself…. be alone and comfortable with yourself…. breath and be quiet. In your outer life, you sense yourself as individual, unique, yet connected to your world, in your inner life, you sense yourself as a part of something greater….. like drop of water in the ocean, There is no need to run from one towards the other…. “when body and mind are not separate and mind and body are not separate, this is beyond all words all thought”…..

That drop of water has no beginning and no end.