Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Sparklers


Remember when you were kid, perhaps over the 4th of July, getting sparklers? Fun! You light them up, they sizzle and give off a glow of red heat and sparkles. Then you can wave them around and draw pictures in the air, lasting only a few seconds.
Inspired by Rizal's and Doug's blogs on ego, as I was lying in bed this morning it dawned on me that our ego's, or sense of self, is like the glow of the sparkler. You can see it, but it is only an illusion of the eye. We are just a sparkle of a red hot energy source moving through space giving off an illusion of existence...yet it is ephemeral. It is a phantom, a ghost, an illusion of the senses.
Try to hold on to the images while they are being made is folly. Any child can tell you that, yet this is what we try to do by feeding our ego's. We are trying to grab the image in the air in hopes of lasting salvation or enlightenment. No wonder I laugh at myself so often when I find myself doing this! In some ways it is fun to draw the pictures in the air...it is just important to realize they are what they are and not get attached to them.
I have to go to work now....any more insights and perspective are welcome.
Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

3 comments:

  1. One of the many great quotes from Wei Wu Wei

    "We are not possessed by an ego but possessed by the idea of an ego" (or something similar anyway)

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  2. So true...everything is simply a result of conditions, which is always changing. No ego really, just the idea of an ego...sparkles in the air...thanks.

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  3. @ Shinzen: Great metaphor! Yeah, I gotta laugh at myself too. Including the sparkles of idea of ego :p ha! Life's a very beautiful sparkles! :D

    @ Ta-Wan: Whoa! That is scarier. Thanks for sharing Man :)

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