One way to enlightenment, as prescribed by the elect, is to see that nothing can be defined on its own.
Everything finds its definition in the other; there is no independent reality. By extension, because everything is intertwined, so separation is an illusion. If you start to remove the polarities then everything collapses into one being.
Nevertheless, dwelling in this lower perception, most of my existence has been spent seeking a fruitless higher definition. I think it’s a tendency wish to be a part of something greater, as to only live for yourself is to feel the weight of finitude and the crushing defeat that old age comes to pass. Bunch of sand castles to wash away, however much of a caliber one you become. You could get real swept up in things, striving and only to be overtaken, forgotten beyond a bullet point.
But the sand castles are still somewhere to dwell. If making up your own activities and seclusions comes as a sand castle existence, then the twig raft fashions itself from aimless conversations, and you could be convinced enough to voyage out. To read all the letters in a bottle you’d like, sea breeze to take in and yet you’re straddled in the horizonless sea, clouds building.
Sand castles shall flatten, but shall also find themselves fixed up soon after: another day to pass. If the storm breaks apart your twig raft, what then? Panning left and right so the sand spans for miles and provokes an emptiness. But when the raft falls apart there is no scenery anchor, footing to take: you’re waiting to be swallowed. Float along you might, seeking new lands, though of what do you hope to find in these lands? I guess you get tavern partings, or divorce papers.
I know how aimless it can come to curate and become an expert in any domain. But it can expedite living in an endless present, and who knows what else it can bring? In contrast, seeking higher definition out there renders all the same. To hope for some place of belonging and faltering, instead of belonging to your sand castle aspirations.
I just wish I knew a long time ago that sand castles are all you can count on. Because when those wash away, you can at least brace yourself a bit more evenly as the nothingness washes right after and, hopefully, evicts you from the neuroticism.
May as well make a sand metropolis and maybe then you could sell some twig rafts for those unsuspecting. Whether as a benevolent jumpstart lesson or a conniving indifference. Boundless ocean comfortably distant and sparkled by the true and brave venturing out once again. Best to spectate by the sand pavilion counting up today’s profits.