Blowing Bubbles

It’s not impermanence that makes us suffer.
What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent,
when they are not.
(Thich Nhat Hanh)

Buddhists build beautiful Mandalas on the beach and then let the ocean waters carry them away when the flood comes in to remind themselves of how fleeting life’s forms are. I always got the gists behind the exercise but always felt sad when the tide came in nevertheless. What a waste of time, effort and art.

Modern man blows bubbles and represses the fact that everything is fleeting, life, sex appeal, material possessions and professional legacies. He behaves as if the world spins around him and is then surprised one day when he or his loved ones get sick or die, and when a younger generation comes and takes his professional legacy away.

Many of us spiritual folks are a step ahead in the game. We understand what modern man refuses to accept, even though it has been corroborated by science as well, everything we see, smell and touch is at the deepest molecular level ‘no-thing’, nothing but energy spinning in empty space that is, and interacting with the observer.

True enlightenment is if you can switch in and out of these imaginary worlds at your disposal. True enlightenment is the ability to watch these bubbles burst and laugh heartedly at the humor behind God’s divine play. For the rest of us spiritual folks, we aspire to reach this level of maturity but deep inside we still hurt badly.

You hear quite often the story of a guru who loses a loved one and is thrown into a deep depression but after a while comes back ready to take the final stage of enlightenment because after letting that last bubble go she has nothing left to lose so to speak. The question is, how should the rest of us deal with these bursting bubbles?

Did you catch it? Did you notice the word ‘should’ in the preceding sentence? It is the mind speaking! Our spiritually-inclined mind wants to see fleeting bubbles rather than firm reality. We want to keep a stiff upper lip even though our feelings cry murder and want revenge. This spartan philosophy is embraced by many but it is not the only one.

The alternative is the path of authenticity. We understand that these forms are fleeting but we don’t let our mind override what we feel either. When we feel horny we accept it, when we are jealous of the success of others we suffer through it. When we lose a loved one we cry our eyes out. Eventually the bubbles leave us, but it is a process.  

Let’s blow bubbles my friend. Make them beautiful, make them abundant and make them long-lasting. And if one or two burst in the process never mind a few tears. They will only bring you closer to the final spiritual break-through! God’s maya is beautiful to behold. Who knows, maybe even God cries now and then.