Stopping the Waves
The movie “Diva,” a cult classic and one of my absolute favorite movies ever, is a 1981 French thriller film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. The first few seconds of this clip shows the actor Richard Bohringer staring at a tank filled with water that moves back in forth on its own because of the waves. The girl on the roller skates later asks him what he’s doing and he replies: “I’m trying to stop the waves.”
I saw this movie in the early 80’s when I was in my early 20’s and this scene made an in indelible imprint on my psyche, and the idea of “stopping the waves” has come back to me in many different forms.
I was just recently spent a few days at the hotel Puerto Lago, on Lago San Pablo in Imbabura, Ecuador, just 1.5 miles north of Quito. The lake was very large with the majestic Imbabura mountain just behind it. It was divine. Alexandra, my lovely fiancée went for a swim (she’s training for her fourth half Iron Man! and placed 1st and 2nd place in the last two competitions. Aside from my deep love for her, she’s been a great inspiration for me.) and I was just standing on the porch looking out at the gorgeous view, feeling deliciously overwhelmed by the abundance that was present in my life. It was early in the morning so the lake was very still and there were luscious clouds covering the peak of the mountain. The air was fresh and I was just enraptured by the perfection of the moment.
As I looked out onto the lake, the thought of a vision I had during my very first Dieta in 2009 popped into my head. I envisioned myself meditating in half-lotus floating about 3 feet above this immense crystalline lake. The lake was perfectly still reflecting the blue sky and passing clouds above. I had the impression that I had been there for eternities, luxuriating in the peace and tranquility of the crystalline lake in which there was absolute stillness. Then suddenly, a single thought emerged, which seemed so benign a happening, so trivial an event that it was almost unnoticed. That single thought, like a bead of sweat, dripped down my forehead, onto my chest, abdomen, legs and for a brief moment, clung to my great toe before dropping into the lake. That single thought striking the pristine water created a rippling effect of ever-expanding concentric circles. At first they were mere ripples on the surface of the lake that then dissipated and the lake resumed it’s crystalline appearance, stillness, and silence.
Then came another thought and another, sequentially dripping from my body into the lake, creating further concentric ripples compounded by the following ripples until they attained enough momentum to become waves. These waves were given further momentum and life by the subsequently thoughts dripping into the lake propelling the wave further out and now entering the ocean. Further thoughts, which at first seemed so benign and irrelevant now imbued the previous waves with such force that they increased in size and power as they made their way around the earth.
What started as a single thought, too trivial to acknowledge now returned to me after circumnavigating the earth unrecognized as a veritable tsunami that stuck me with such force that I was thrust from my lofty perch and catapulted into the now rough waters of what could no longer be recognized as the peaceful and tranquil lake. As I negotiated these choppy waters and made my way back to the shore, I wondered what could have happened. Where did this tsunami come from that had the audacity to disturb me from my peace and tranquility?
I subsequently learned in fact that this is the human condition. One thought followed by another, which leads to another thought, creating an endless pattern that is called “a life.” That single, innocuous thought that started as a ripple, too insignificant to even recall, returned as a tsunami that created such pain, suffering, and drama, not giving us a clue that it all started in our minds. We are the creators of our reality. But you ask: What choice do we have? Well, while floating above that crystalline lake, recall the clouds passing above and casting their reflections on the lake. What I learned during the Dieta in 2009 but wasn’t able to internalize until very recently was the following: Everything that one perceives- EVERYTHING!- including one’s thoughts, beliefs, and oneself is phenomenal in the sense that they can be perceived, and consequently cast a reflection on the lake. The observer, looking through your eyes, is Consciousness. Once recognized and internalized, the thoughts and EVERYTHING else in life are like the clouds passing above. They cast their reflections on the lake but do not perturb its surface.
Another related metaphor is that your life takes place at the bottom of the lake. Regardless of the tsunamis that are passing on the surface, you are at peace and tranquil. In this light, you are not running away from life, but very much part of it in its entirety. You can choose to explore the surface and ride those turbulent waves for your pleasure and experience, but you are not victim to them.
Ultimately, if you have the grace, you discover that you- like your thoughts, body, feelings, emotions, beliefs, clouds, waves, tsunamis, other people- are all arisings of Consciousness and you have the privilege to be the witness in this Divine Comedy. You then discover that there was never any need to pursue peace and tranquility because in reality, you have always been the peace and tranquility. Hence the saying that for so many lifetimes you have been seeking God/Consciousness and have not been able to find her because she has been looking out of your eyes.
I’ll leave you with this idea:
What if it is the ripples that turn into waves that go on to create tsunamis- aka drama, aka Kleishas (mental afflictions)- that create and actually reinforce this illusion that we call reality? What if we could only be witness to the source drops without getting caught up in the ripples, and thereby “stop the waves”? Would this allow the illusion to crumble, allowing us to wake up in this dream that we thought was real?
I am an emergency physician, writer and a lover of life. The purpose of this blog is to share my ideas, experiences and perspectives as they relate to Consciousness, and as they evolve. Consciousness encompasses everything in my life, your life, the world, the Universe — in other words — EVERYTHING! As the great Shaman Don Diego used to say: “It’s not the most important thing, and it’s not the least important thing…It’s the ONLY thing!”
Check out my novel: “The Twin Flames, the Master, and the Game”! It’s available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Balboa Press.
