Robbed by fog

My fellow seekers

The heart of the ring of mountains is very much alive and she speaks to the inhabitants in a language of her own...sometimes through pin drop silence and at others through utter chaos. Her unforeseeable ways of getting through to us is perhaps a mystery best left unknown.

Lately her lessons seem to revolve around the nature of impermanence. Change has become somewhat of a theme in our lives. It's so apparent here, especially in recent times, that the one thing that I could safely say is permanent is impermanence itself.

One day, as I was standing in the corridor with a friend, I saw a thick fog descending from the sky and hug the mountain range at the distance. There was only a barely visible outline of the mountain furthest at the back. As I watched a piece of the landscape fade into a white nothingness, I chuckled and told my friend that the mountain's gone too. We ended up having a good laugh at the sight of having seen this recurring theme of change on such a massive scale...even if it was to last only until the fog hung around. 

In the evening, I met with a monk and told him about what we both had seen earlier that day. His way of looking at the incident was quite different. He explained that the mountain was in my mind... 

Hmm... quite an interesting perspective isn't it?

Well, to my fortune, I saw a similar scenery once more... This time I didn't just laugh at the vanishing mountain.... instead I watched it... I saw the mountain being robbed by fog...not a trace left behind...what mountain? At that moment, and when I mean that moment, I mean that precise moment and only that moment with no idea of another moment in time, what proof did I have that the mountain ever existed? 

Let's traverse a tangent, shall we? In the world of spirituality, a word that's thrown around a lot is 'witness' but what exactly does it mean? In its noun form, one meaning is a person who has seen an event, or in other words an onlooker. Another is the proof or evidence itself. And when we look at it in its verb form, it means to simply see or observe.

Now, I might be taking a word that's meant to be used in our inner world to the external here but let me go back to the foggy scenario for a bit.

Firstly, I couldn't be a witness to that mountain at that moment because it didn't exist. Secondly, when it comes to any proof of a mountain being in that specific place and at that specific time, I had nothing to show for. Lastly, if I were to simply see whatever that was in front of me at that time, all I could say was that there was no sign of a mountain but instead a foggy white space that couldn't be distinguished from the rest of the sky. 

So where exactly was the mountain? 

Did my mind intervene and bring about a memory from the past? How else could I have known of a mountain in that instant? Of course, too much of analysis might lead to paralysis so I'm going to come to a stop here. 

A picture is worth a thousand words they say but what about a video?

Hope you enjoyed this little clip.

So, my fellow seekers, it would be lovely to hear about your own ideas or experiences so do let me know. What's meant to be heard from the heart cannot be broken down, examined and figured out no matter how much we want to do so. Until our hearts sing the verses of truth let us patiently wait for that melody to play. I hope you all have a good day. Take care!