Three Day Contemplation

You don’t realize how significantly words can evolve until you provide space to contemplate them over time. For this assignment I chose one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s quotes from page seventy- nine; “If one wants a calm sea one cannot get it by suppressing the stormy sea. One must wait for this same sea to become calm”. I decided to break up the quote on day one and two and consider it from different lenses on day three and four.

Day one (Sunday, April 19) I focused on the first half of the quotation; “If one wants a calm sea one cannot get it by suppressing the stormy sea”. Specifically, I put a lot of thought into what exactly the calm/ stormy sea meant to me. The reading utilizes the sea as a metaphor to reality, or true nature. I completely agree with this notion; the sea is our ever-churning reality. Reality is naturally flowing and crashing, just as the ocean. It is susceptible to everything that comes up throughout the days, sunshine or hurricane. Nothing good comes from suppressing the natural flow of anything.

The following day I let myself focus solely on the second sentence of the quote; “One must wait for this same sea to become calm”. After repeating those words to myself, both silently and aloud, I asked myself what kind of process I related to ‘waiting’ for the stormy waters to run it’s course. If there is only one reality we are left to submission to the natural flow. If we were to fight against or attempt to suppress true nature we end up hurting ourselves. Reality becomes overwhelming and we strain ourselves, eventually to burn out. The only outcome here is ending up future away from our true nature. I see waiting as the process of becoming aware and able to hold space for vulnerability.

On day three I took to contemplation of the quote in its entirety. How do these words make me feel? Well first off, the thought of one reality can be daunting. Knowing that you cannot run or hide from anything that makes you any bit uncomfortable. Nor can you make sense of the circumstance, no conceptualizing in order to come to any sort of solution. Personally, I tend to seek explanation so this whole idea is, in a way frightening to me even though I agree with it. However, although I agree, it does not make it easy to embody. I have come to realize that we learn the most valuable lessons from the circumstances that make us generally uncomfortable. Therefore, I believe that letting go and riding out the stormy waters is the only way for us to wake up and see through a clearer lens.

The last day I applied the quote to my current situation. I asked myself whether or not I felt reality was experiencing rough or calm waters. I wish I could respond to my own question with a reflection of sailing along calm waters, but I feel as though I am navigating stormy waters. Navigating being the key word here, something I would not have picked up on day one; I see myself trying to control the waters rather than just going with the flow. I want so badly to still the waters or maybe sail away to find new waters. However, in the end it is all the same water- one reality that I need to face in order to come across calm waters. I need to begin to apply these teachings to my life with more commitment rather than fighting for immediate change.