Seeking inner truth : finding our ocean

…when we seek truth outside ourselves (in the form of success, media, politics, religion and other types of social conditioning) we are wading in a small pond, a shallow version of what is possible.  If we never see life from a broader perspective, we will always mistake the pond for the ocean.  When our perception is limited, our reality is also limited.  When we expand our capacity to perceive, our capacity to experience also expands.

We all have an ocean within us.  The ocean is a state of being, not a place.  It is energy, not water.  When an actor gets lost in a character, that is her ocean.  When a father holds a newborn son for a while, that is his ocean.  You find your ocean by clearing your mind of distractions and accepting the moment as it is – both the beauty and pain of life – without resistance.

Sooner or later we all find our ocean.  This is inevitable as our ocean is our only destination.  There is no failure, only progress.  There is no fire, only water.  All wrong turns re-route to the same holy highway.  Some of us will find our ocean quickly.  For others  it will take a long time because we are afraid to venture away from the shore.   Some will find our ocean because we are searching for it.  Others, like me, it will be an accident.  The Ego says that if we sail toward the ocean we will become lost at sea.  It’s not true.  We will be sailing home.

Every stream reaches a river, all rivers reach the sea.  When we flow with the present moment, we are guided by the wisdom of stillness.  Even if you are stranded on an island you will not be homeless.   You will be home, and your ego will have nothing left to say.

James McCrae