Drop & Ocean

The Drop
As I mentioned in a recent post, when we awaken to the nature of mind, we are awakening to the "local" Big Mind - to the drop. It has the same taste as the ocean, but is not quite the ocean yet. It embraces the Absolute - as the nature of mind, space & awareness, the formless unborn - and the Relative - as the experiences of the small self arising in the present. It also allows all experiences - all polarities - to arise, unfold and fade away - without needing to engage in them, without automatically fuelling or pushing away. In this way, it is transdual - although "locally" transdual.

The Integration
As we awaken to the Absolute, we enter a process of bringing it into daily life. We gradually become more familiar with ourselves as the holarchy from the Relative (the small self - body, sensations, energies, emotions, thoughts) through the Absolute (space & awareness, formless unborn).

We familiarize ourselves with how all the experiences of the small self arise within space & awareness, and how we no longer need to automatically engage in them. We don't take them as seriously anymore, and have a lighter touch in relation to them and the rest of the world. We realize that all the drama in our life is self-made, and that this drama is extra - no needed for us to be effective in the world. This process also allows our exclusive and limited sense of identity to soften, become more inclusive, more transparent, erode and eventually fall away.

At the same time, we may find that we are more - and more immediately - engaged with and in the world. There are less filters and less drama, which allows for more wholehearted engagement.

The Ocean
As we continue the process of familiarizing ourselves with the Absolute and Relative in this way, with the nature of mind and the small self and the relationship between the two, we begin to sense the ocean.

We realize that all phenomena - the Relative world as a whole - is a fluid seamless whole. This small self is a temporary pattern of matter and energy within this larger fluid whole. It does not have any fixed or independent existence.

And we realize that the Absolute and the Relative are parts of a seamless fluid whole.

Our view becomes gradually more transdual, until we awaken to and as the ocean - as Big Mind, embracing the Absolute and the Relative world.

We awaken as all of Existence, while still centered on this small self. Eventually, we may even awaken as all of Existence not centered in any particular place - yet everywhere.

The taste of the drop is also the taste of the ocean, although still in a limited way.