This rock is changing right before your eyes
Slowly.
When I took this photo, the tide was low, but coming in. I’d say that this rock was a part of the land. When the tide is high, the rock would be covered by water. It would then be a part of the ocean.
The tide isn’t binary, it’s always changing based on the moon’s pull, low to high and back again.
Over a long time, the water erodes the stone. Bits of the stone get warn off and they become part of the ocean. And the sea bottom. And maybe marine life ingests parts of the stone. Maybe someday it’s completely changed into new things.
There isn’t stasis. Everything is changing, all the time. Liminal.
The Buddha taught that the source of human suffering and discontent is that we crave and cling to the things of this world under the mistaken view that they will last forever.
But nothing does.
One day my teacher Ajahn Chah held up a beautiful tea cup, “To me this cup is already broken. Because I know its fate, I can enjoy it fully here and now. And when it’s gone, it’s gone.”
https://jackkornfield.com/the-wisdom-of-insecurity/
My mind and body will change significantly enough for me to not be here anymore. Changed into what? I have no idea. When? Not for a very long time, I hope.
You, me, a coffee cup, and that rock are all on different timelines. If we can focus on the present actions and distance ourselves from some future outcome, we might be at peace and be more present.
When I think about this, I feel connected to something larger and inspired to take action. To engage with my creativity and other people. To just be.
I talk a lot about purpose with my friend Chris. And I am often reminded of this banger of a quote from Alan Watts.
The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.