We are all grains of sand

To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour - William Blake

Imagine yourself sitting on the beach, facing the waves and the setting Sun. The sky is speckled with white clouds, frozen in time like a trail of brush strokes left behind as the wind wove its way through. The soft luminescent underbelly of the clouds is lit up in yellow-orange-pink hues, as the setting Sun projects all its remaining brilliance upwards, putting up a spectacular show. Birds are now black shadows flying effortlessly, beautifully displaying the stillness of the sky against their motion, with a comforting glide that reveals that they are on their way home. Your eyes cannot help but follow them until they venture far ahead into the horizon. The beach is banked by tall trees all around, gently swaying in the humid wind. The sand's surface has cooled down under the gentle touch of the wind while some warmth lies trapped in the deeper layers, that you can feel with your fingers, a memory of a glorious Sunny day. The ocean prepares for the night, deepening in its colors and the waves continue their movement through this transition. It welcomes the play of the Sun’s gentle rays with their reflections on its surface, as if the Sun is giving itself a last look in millions of tiny mirrors before it recedes beyond the horizon.

Caught in the middle of this rendezvous between the Sun, the sky, the trees, the waves and the sand, you wonder how this magnificent, glorious spectacle has happened through the centuries, every single day and for whom? You slowly realize that nature doesn't care for a witness for if it did, it would not be so spectacular. As you linger, you realize that the most beautiful part of the experience is not the grandeur or stunning landscape but the sheer innocence of nature, that evokes a realization of the innocence that lies within yourself. To an observer, far away, your silhouette appears against the horizon, diffusing into the sunset. Unknown to yourself, you become a part of this spectacle.

You dust off the sand on your clothes and hands and wade into the water. You are absorbed in the marvel of the sunset. Yet the sand slipping through crevices in your fingers, adhering to your clothes, feet, hair, lying bundled up under the shallow waters near the shore, floating away with the wind, and spread across the beach, is almost unnoticeable in your perception. 

Similarly, the underlying, omni-present element of life and existence, does not present itself in some majestic form, but lies innocently forgotten, in plain sight. Its unassuming, raw simplicity compliments the sheer energy it carries within. The best moments of our lives are those where we forget ourselves to experience something. Then why do we spend our lives in endeavors to bolster our so-called "Identity"? 

• What does it feel like to be truly inspired?

• What does it feel like to deeply love?

• What does it feel like to be completely engrossed in doing something we love?

• What does it feel like to fully, selflessly admire another?

Do we retain a sense of our identity in these instances? Or do we just feel a deep, fulfilling energy within? Does it matter what our job title, gender, age or background is?

The identity we spend our lives building is like a sand castle. We believe we are the castle while in reality, our essential nature lies within the elements - the grains of sand - serene, moldable and neutral. 

We don't need to aspire to be adorned sand castles when we are capable of being a sand dune, forever adaptable to external forces, traveling across miles and changing all the time. 

The castle stands tall, fretting every time a waft of wind drives crevices in its form. Forever protecting its facade, it worries about imperfections that do not meet its own criteria, trying to preserve itself for as long as possible. While a sand dune travels with the wind, forever changing and honoring the form it takes each moment. The castle is lost in its visions of future adornments while the seasons change, the sun rises and sets and the ocean beckons. It's true essence is held in closed chambers, protected away from the world. The more complexity the castle builds within itself, the lesser the chance to exude its essence externally. While the dune lives in the moment, adapting its form continuously, blending with its environment, freely exuding its essence, exchanging energy and sand particles. Our lives are fraught with this duality, we struggle between identification as the castle and the dune knowingly or unknowingly. If only we could ask ourselves to resolve this dilemma - Do I want to consider myself an incomplete castle, forever striving for “perfection” towards a vision that is ever evolving under external influence, or a collection of millions of grains of sand, powerful and effortlessly capable of creating anything?

To let go of the castle means:

• To realize existence within the elements and let go of the whole. 

• To understand and see others beyond their castles, big or small, embellished or plain, strong or weak and uncover their real beauty underneath and realize that we all do not exist in separation. 

• To surrender to the direction of the wind, yet also create our own structure effusing our truth. 

• To understand that the inevitable waves will come and welcome them with open arms.

If we identify ourselves with the structure, we will always blame the wave for destroying us. But if we realize our Self within the elements, we will rejoice in our reconfiguration every time. 

The castle vanishes with every wave of water, but the sand travels far and wide and is indestructible. So what does that even mean? If we detach ourselves from the castle and focus on the elements, we realize the opportunity of re-birth in every moment. Even within this life, we can deconstruct and rebuild ourselves completely, several times. To find meaning in the constant reconfiguration of ourselves, is to continuously evolve and find fulfillment in life. 

A significant step in our ability for reconfiguration is to let go of the past and the future. Being bound to time is like swimming in the currents of the ocean and witnessing the world through the volume of water surrounding us. The waves are the projections into the past and future that limit what we can or cannot do. How liberating it would be to step out onto the shore where we could move at will in any direction. In order to dissociate with the ingrained concept of time, we could think of life not as a film, but stock motion photography. Instead of perceiving time as the continuum that pulls with it, the burdens of the past, it can be perceived as a moment-by-moment unfolding of discrete events. And from this perspective, emerges a possibility that one could break the apparent rules and create a new moment that is completely different from the previous ones.

Life is a constant dance between surrender and ownership

Life is a beautiful paradox - it demands of us, a sense of surrender yet asks us to also retain ownership. The surrender comes truly, when we realize everything that ever happens is external and can not define us. The ownership comes when we understand our inner identity and benevolence and extend ourselves outwards for creation that is not dampened by the eagerness or fears of the ego.

Seeds are often at the mercy of their carriers and the winds. Sometimes they are propelled far away from their habitat, possibly even across continents, landing in an unfamiliar environment. But the moment they land, they begin to establish their roots and within days and months they grow and flourish and also become a bountiful source of sustenance for many other species. Where the flower goes is ultimately not in its hands, but it never forgets to emanate its fragrance out to the world no matter where the seed lands. 

For any miracle to unravel in our lives, we must first initiate and embrace our own unraveling.

Here, the word unraveling could be unsettling. Does it mean to come apart or fall apart? It means a return to the innocence and truth that we already are. It involves letting go of the parts of us that are superficial and having the courage to go beyond our fears to allow our true self to emerge. As we work on this, we will find life unfolding its miracles to us - these may or may not translate to material success or even be visible to the physical world and other people's perceptions but will unfold an enriching and meaningful dialogue with the universe.

The morning dew emerges like shiny transparent pearls along the tender leaves and branches of a tree. A brown oval attachment (cocoon) makes its appearance overnight on a branch. Dawn breaks and transforms into a hot summer's day, birds fly away and come back to their nests at dusk, night falls again. The cocoon remains still, engrossed within itself, going through the journey it must undertake. What must go on beneath the shell every moment is not fully known to the world, but there is a toil of tremendous transformation that can not be denied. In its own rhythm, it slowly propels itself into color, beauty and flight. Unfolding a part of itself every moment, that did not exist a few seconds ago. Bravely, the cocoon unravels itself, embracing uncertainty, unfamiliarity and perhaps pain to march towards its redefinition. And one day, bright fluorescent blue wings emerge, taking their first flight through the skies.

Witness to the crests and troughs, the ebbs and flows,

May you float, light as a feather in happiness and woes,

May you surrender to the sky and just like the Sun’s rays,

May you find your way to greatness, with grace.

The sand swirls upwards in a sudden gust of wind landing on the waves in playful abandon, floating with the wind far and wide and then settling down as millions of minuscule bits and pieces on the clouds drifting towards the horizon, the sea shells, rocks, trees, pavements, roads, and shops. Each grain, radiating peace under the capture of the golden rays, embodying purity and emanating it back to the universe. 

I shall leave you with a song that was part of the inspiration for this blog post. It articulates the innocence of life in a very beautiful way.

Bluebird By Alexis Ffrench

https://youtu.be/gArIvTJdrEc?si=aj7dh2lIiP-MwP0c

-Preetika