The Sky and the Sea

 

So, the other day a friend, a poet, and a deep thinker shared this musing:

The Sky and The Sea

Sitting here contemplating my latest epiphany,

Would I rather be the sky or would I rather be the sea?

Are they envious of one another or do they coexist like sister and brother?

Or does it even matter? —Rkc

 

It got me thinking:

 Science tells us that the ocean is blue because water absorbs colors in the red part of the light spectrum. Like a filter, this leaves behind colors in the blue part of the light spectrum for us to see. In other words, the ocean only appears blue.

 And regarding the sky, there was a group of young children, I think under the age of 3, and they were asked to identify the color of various objects. They had no trouble—the apple was red, the grass was green, and the house was blue, but they could not identify the color of the sky. In fact, the children could not see any color in the sky at all. Older children and adults, on the other hand, easily identified the sky as blue.

 “My form only shows you what you are. The state of ‘only’ is like a hollow—like the sky. The sky or hollow contains nothing; if you go inside it with whatever you have, you will only see what you have and nothing else. The state of ‘only’ is like a mirror. When you look in the mirror you see yourself and nothing else. The mirror represents the state of ‘only’ in this world.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Volume I, Part A, page 136

 So, are the sky and the sea like two perfect mirrors? And if they are, what do they see when they are facing each other?

 But what if there is a spot on a mirror, like a cloud in the sky; then is it not just the cloud and not the sky that is reflected in the sea?

 “If you paint a picture of Vishnu on the mirror, you can no more see your face in it; when now you approach the mirror; you will see the picture of Vishnu. By painting the mirror this way, you have removed the quality of reflection from it. Unless you wipe out the picture from the mirror—unless you bring the mirror into its original state of ‘only’ you cannot see your reflection in it.” – Ibid; Volume I, Part A, page 137

Science tells us that “the horizon is the apparent line that separates earth from sky, the line that divides all viewing directions based on whether it intersects the Earth's surface or not. The true horizon is actually a theoretical line, which can only be observed when it lies on the sea surface.”

 I’m struck by two words here, apparent and theoretical. No doubt, average contemporary people, based on their observations and their understanding of science, might say that the sea is part of the Earth and that the sky is part of the space that surrounds the earth, though in earlier times the commonly held belief was that the Earth was flat, and that the horizon marked the end of the earth, and that one could travel to the end of the Earth and fall off into the sky.

 So, where and what are reality and illusion? Does science have it right now?

 Science is always changing. The flat earth theory is a relic of two-dimensional thinking. The round earth theory is grounded in three-dimensional thinking, but even this thinking, this consciousness, is being seriously challenged these days. If the universe is, in reality, more than three dimensions, and why shouldn’t it be, then how can we hope to understand it with a three-dimensional paradigm?

 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” – Corinthians 3:18

 So, are the earth and the sky envious of each other, or do they coexist like sister and brother? We will know when we know. As Kabir said, “Until you experience it, it is not true.”

 Meher Baba said, “You and I are not we, but One.” Maybe when we achieve that consciousness all dimensions will be absorbed in that Oneness, as will the sea and the sky, and you and me too.

 And is the consciousness of that Oneness what is called love? Perhaps we must wait and see, because “The tale of love must be heard from love itself, for like the mirror, it is both mute and expressive.”— Rumi

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