How often do we take the time to stop what we are doing, and to just sit back and observe nature? Do we spend enough time appreciating nature?
Let's be honest, it is so easy for us to overlook what is happening around us because we get used to it. We start to take things for granted or as the norm until it is not there anymore and we realize what we have lost. Unfortunately, too late.
When we observe nature, we come to realize that nature is not simply some mechanical system that is working, some machine doing things blindly and unconsciously, no. When we take notice, we see, we feel, we realize that Mother Nature is extremely aware, awake, conscious, alive, and intelligent! She is amazing.
Upon close observation, we realize that nature is a great teacher, teaching us so much about life and ourselves.
There are of course the more inviting aspects, which the discriminating mind may label as 'good' or 'nice' such as the beauty, the healing, the peace, love, and the compassion that we can see in nature.
Then, there is also the other side which may be less appealing to the discriminating ego, but which is still just as true, as important, and as valuable. In nature, we see impermanence. We see destruction, we see creation, and we see how creation and destruction go hand in hand.
See, Mother Nature is really a Divine Teacher!
Let's consider the wind for a moment. The wind itself, it is invisible. It is also tasteless, smell-less, soundless. Hold this thought for a moment...
The only way we can actually smell the wind is if it blows from a direction that contains a certain smell. For example, a wind coming from the ocean will smell like the ocean. A wind blowing over a heap of garbage, well... it stinks. A wind blowing over a fire smells like fire and smoke. Yet, the wind itself, alone, is without smell, isn't it?
The same goes for the color of the wind. Unless the wind is blowing some sand or some rain, we cannot see the wind. It is colorless.
Again, when we think of the sound of the wind, does it have any sound? Or, does it only make a sound when it blows through trees, houses, and alleys? We can only hear the wind cutting through and around objects, but we cannot hear the wind when it has nothing to 'echo' with.
Imagine that we are looking through a window, and outside there are no trees, no houses, no sand, just a huge open runway, nearly like the runway of an airport. If there is nothing for the wind to show it's presence, we can not say that there is any wind, can we? But, when we see the trees moving, or we hear the wind howling through the trees or blowing sand from the ocean or the desert, then we can say that there is actually wind outside.
So, just for the sake of this specific article, let's consider how the wind is like awareness. Awareness is unseen, shapeless, odorless, silent.
Yet, awareness can 'echo' against the manifestations of the mind. In a state of emptiness of the mind, or when resting in awareness, there is nothing else, it is just awareness. As the wind over the empty runway, nothing to blow against, through, or over.
However, when the mind - which depends on awareness - starts to manifest phenomena into existence, awareness can illuminate these mental objects. Awareness can lighten up these mental objects, and it turns it into an experience.
For example, the mind projects an emotion, and awareness is aware of this emotion, and through this, it becomes an experience.
Therefore, for the sake of this article, we can imagine that emotions, thoughts, and objects, are like the trees, the houses, the dust, and the sand.
Even though awareness is shapeless, like the wind, when it illuminates certain objects, it appears to take on these characteristics (even though it does not, it just appears as such). The same goes for the wind. We say that the wind smells like the ocean, while it is actually just bringing the smell of the ocean to us. We say that the wind is howling or crying, cutting through the trees or the houses, while actually, the wind itself is soundless. The wind is not the sand itself, it is not the ocean's smell itself, and it is not the howling or the moving of the trees itself.
Through the mind, when shape and form get manifested into existence again, we sense ourselves 'echoing' against the illusions of form and shape, and this creates an experience. The experience of life.
To conclude, we want to say again that we do not want to confuse our True Nature with a sandy wind or a shaky tree. We just want to make, in this concept, a relation between the wind and awareness, which can be seen as a simple lesson, depending on the perception.
When we see or understand this concept, we can start to transform the way that we experience and perceive reality. Instead of generating attachment, desire, and even aversion towards objects, trying to define ourselves or to create false identities, we understand that we are the winds breathing 'life' into the ideas, concepts, and objects, but we are not these objects, ideas or concepts themselves.
If any readers would like for the author to explain this in more detail, please feel free to post in the comments section.
Let's be honest, it is so easy for us to overlook what is happening around us because we get used to it. We start to take things for granted or as the norm until it is not there anymore and we realize what we have lost. Unfortunately, too late.
When we observe nature, we come to realize that nature is not simply some mechanical system that is working, some machine doing things blindly and unconsciously, no. When we take notice, we see, we feel, we realize that Mother Nature is extremely aware, awake, conscious, alive, and intelligent! She is amazing.
Upon close observation, we realize that nature is a great teacher, teaching us so much about life and ourselves.
There are of course the more inviting aspects, which the discriminating mind may label as 'good' or 'nice' such as the beauty, the healing, the peace, love, and the compassion that we can see in nature.
Then, there is also the other side which may be less appealing to the discriminating ego, but which is still just as true, as important, and as valuable. In nature, we see impermanence. We see destruction, we see creation, and we see how creation and destruction go hand in hand.
See, Mother Nature is really a Divine Teacher!
The faceless wind
Yet, what the author would like to bring attention to, is about one lesson in particular, which nature revealed a while ago. The author was sitting outside in a storm with strong wind, and then the following 'lesson' - so to speak - surfaced.Let's consider the wind for a moment. The wind itself, it is invisible. It is also tasteless, smell-less, soundless. Hold this thought for a moment...
The only way we can actually smell the wind is if it blows from a direction that contains a certain smell. For example, a wind coming from the ocean will smell like the ocean. A wind blowing over a heap of garbage, well... it stinks. A wind blowing over a fire smells like fire and smoke. Yet, the wind itself, alone, is without smell, isn't it?
The same goes for the color of the wind. Unless the wind is blowing some sand or some rain, we cannot see the wind. It is colorless.
Again, when we think of the sound of the wind, does it have any sound? Or, does it only make a sound when it blows through trees, houses, and alleys? We can only hear the wind cutting through and around objects, but we cannot hear the wind when it has nothing to 'echo' with.
Imagine that we are looking through a window, and outside there are no trees, no houses, no sand, just a huge open runway, nearly like the runway of an airport. If there is nothing for the wind to show it's presence, we can not say that there is any wind, can we? But, when we see the trees moving, or we hear the wind howling through the trees or blowing sand from the ocean or the desert, then we can say that there is actually wind outside.
Wind as a teacher
Now, let's consider the following about awareness. Before we go into this, the author would like to make it clear that we are not trying to define awareness or to give it characteristics or saying that it is like the wind. Only for this one, simple analogy, we want to compare awareness to the wind, and only limited to this illustration.So, just for the sake of this specific article, let's consider how the wind is like awareness. Awareness is unseen, shapeless, odorless, silent.
Yet, awareness can 'echo' against the manifestations of the mind. In a state of emptiness of the mind, or when resting in awareness, there is nothing else, it is just awareness. As the wind over the empty runway, nothing to blow against, through, or over.
However, when the mind - which depends on awareness - starts to manifest phenomena into existence, awareness can illuminate these mental objects. Awareness can lighten up these mental objects, and it turns it into an experience.
For example, the mind projects an emotion, and awareness is aware of this emotion, and through this, it becomes an experience.
Therefore, for the sake of this article, we can imagine that emotions, thoughts, and objects, are like the trees, the houses, the dust, and the sand.
Even though awareness is shapeless, like the wind, when it illuminates certain objects, it appears to take on these characteristics (even though it does not, it just appears as such). The same goes for the wind. We say that the wind smells like the ocean, while it is actually just bringing the smell of the ocean to us. We say that the wind is howling or crying, cutting through the trees or the houses, while actually, the wind itself is soundless. The wind is not the sand itself, it is not the ocean's smell itself, and it is not the howling or the moving of the trees itself.
Blowing away our delusions
For the author at this point, and maybe for some readers too, it was again a reminder of our True Nature, of awareness. We are not the bodies or the minds, but we are the awareness witnessing these objects. Without any manifestations of the mind, such as in deep sleep, or when we rest in pure awareness, there is nothing to witness, there is nothing to observe, as the manifestations of the mind and the mind itself dissolved back into empty space. Yet, we are still there, present, as awareness. Shapeless, odorless, colorless, silent.Through the mind, when shape and form get manifested into existence again, we sense ourselves 'echoing' against the illusions of form and shape, and this creates an experience. The experience of life.
To conclude, we want to say again that we do not want to confuse our True Nature with a sandy wind or a shaky tree. We just want to make, in this concept, a relation between the wind and awareness, which can be seen as a simple lesson, depending on the perception.
When we see or understand this concept, we can start to transform the way that we experience and perceive reality. Instead of generating attachment, desire, and even aversion towards objects, trying to define ourselves or to create false identities, we understand that we are the winds breathing 'life' into the ideas, concepts, and objects, but we are not these objects, ideas or concepts themselves.
If any readers would like for the author to explain this in more detail, please feel free to post in the comments section.
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| The wind as a teacher, shaking the trees, but unable to be witnessed without the presence of the trees shaking. |
Reading your articles ,feels like meeting Buddha again...thank you for sharing this profound wisdom 💗
ReplyDeleteDear reader,
DeleteThank you for the kind comment. Yes, through the kindness and wisdom of all the Buddhas, in all their shapes and forms, we sometimes have the great fortune to grasp a bit of their teachings, and to share it with each other!
May we continue to learn and grow together.