We are taught that all things are impermanent. That all things … be they products of the mind or real … rise and fall. It is one of the central facts of life, of nature.
When I was meditating yesterday, again on the rug with the faint lines radiating out from the cushion, and focused on a point at the end of one of those lines, towards the end of my meditation I had another “experience.” Above the point was a thicker section of the line surrounded by a lighter area. Suddenly, that whole section was surrounded by light, like a flame. At first the solid area appeared like a dark block of ice. Then it turned into a bush. Finally it turned into a man.
I was very confused. What I was “seeing” was an example of something not being consumed by fire, symbolically existing for eternity. Yet this was opposed to the teaching and fact that all things are impermanent.
After the meditation, I thought about this seeming contradiction. Was it one, or did it just seem to be? I continued to be confused.
Then I remembered a line from the poem, “Affirming Faith in Mind,” which says, “in essence nothing goes or stays.” That certainly appears the opposite of the concept of impermanence and fit the image I had had,
I tried to analogize, but nothing really worked. I thought that saying nothing goes or stays is similar to the common saying, “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.” But on reflection that isn’t analogous at all. In a different context, Einstein said that energy does not disappear. It may disappear from one body, but then it appears in another, with the total amount of energy in a system being unchanging. But that really isn’t analogous either.
I tried thinking of other examples of this within my sphere of knowledge, but the examples all fell short. They were far more limited than what I perceived. This is not something that I was able to put into words through the power of mind. I just knew it was, that it was true.
So, what I realize I perceived during my meditation was that whether it’s a person, a thought, or a rock, when it ceases to be according to the capacity of our five senses … all things do rise and fall … the essence or energy of that person, thought, or rock remains in the ether. Everything is in this state of neither being nor not being. More than that I cannot say.
When I was meditating yesterday, again on the rug with the faint lines radiating out from the cushion, and focused on a point at the end of one of those lines, towards the end of my meditation I had another “experience.” Above the point was a thicker section of the line surrounded by a lighter area. Suddenly, that whole section was surrounded by light, like a flame. At first the solid area appeared like a dark block of ice. Then it turned into a bush. Finally it turned into a man.
I was very confused. What I was “seeing” was an example of something not being consumed by fire, symbolically existing for eternity. Yet this was opposed to the teaching and fact that all things are impermanent.
After the meditation, I thought about this seeming contradiction. Was it one, or did it just seem to be? I continued to be confused.
Then I remembered a line from the poem, “Affirming Faith in Mind,” which says, “in essence nothing goes or stays.” That certainly appears the opposite of the concept of impermanence and fit the image I had had,
I tried to analogize, but nothing really worked. I thought that saying nothing goes or stays is similar to the common saying, “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.” But on reflection that isn’t analogous at all. In a different context, Einstein said that energy does not disappear. It may disappear from one body, but then it appears in another, with the total amount of energy in a system being unchanging. But that really isn’t analogous either.
I tried thinking of other examples of this within my sphere of knowledge, but the examples all fell short. They were far more limited than what I perceived. This is not something that I was able to put into words through the power of mind. I just knew it was, that it was true.
So, what I realize I perceived during my meditation was that whether it’s a person, a thought, or a rock, when it ceases to be according to the capacity of our five senses … all things do rise and fall … the essence or energy of that person, thought, or rock remains in the ether. Everything is in this state of neither being nor not being. More than that I cannot say.
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