Your Deeper Connection to the Infinite

“Enlightenment for a wave is the moment the wave realizes it is water.
At that moment, all fear of death disappears.”
​~Thich Nhat Hanh

This week’s quote teaches a profound truth about the nature of existence. In our last blog, we discussed the concept of oneness and the illusion of separation. However, it often takes the power of metaphor to really understand an idea. In this particular metaphor, the wave symbolizes your individual identity, while the ocean represents the deeper, unchanging essence that underlies all things.

If a wave was somehow capable of conscious thought, it may believe itself to be unique and finite. But, when this wave comes to recognize that it is not separate from the ocean, but an expression of it, a transformation occurs. The wave comes to understand that no matter what form it takes, its essential essence remains unchanged. When the crest eventually breaks and the wave disappears, it returns back to the source from which it originated.

This concept is simple enough to grasp. But how exactly does it cause all fear of death to disappear? Perhaps it’s because the only thing you can know for certain is that you exist. As a result, there is often a lot of fear and uncertainty associated with the idea that you will eventually cease to exist. However, when you realize that you are an integral part of something eternal and infinite, you no longer have to worry about death being the end. In the same way, the enlightened wave no longer fears the moment when it crashes onto shore, because it understands that in falling back, it rejoins the whole.

As Joseph P. Kaufman puts it, “We are like waves in the ocean, each with a unique character and quality on the surface, but deep down we are eternally connected to one another and to the ocean as a whole.” Just as a wave can find peace by discovering its unity with the ocean, you too can find peace by realizing your deeper connection to the infinite. Therefore, release any fear you may be harboring about your own demise. Remember that you are more than just a transient wave, you are the boundless ocean.