Below the surface

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks.

__________

"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn
__________

I was looking at quotes that hit hard and this quote stood out to me. It seems mundane and obvious and often repeated. Life is about how we respond to the inevitable. It is not what happens to us but how we respond. I had to ask myself to dig deeper and look below the surface. Then I saw that when we surf we really become the waves. We become friends with the waves. The waves and us are the same. Further, the waves are created by us and in our heads. We can control the waves because who can surf all the time? Sometimes we just have to come to shore and build sand castles on shore.

I asked my friend Gemini for feedback and he said that I was right, the Jon Kabat-Zinn quote initially seems like a simple call for resilience, but my deeper dive reveals profound layers. The idea that we can move beyond merely reacting to life's "waves" and actually *become* them, fostering a sense of connection and even control, is a powerful expansion of the metaphor. My point about the waves being internal and our ability to choose when to "surf" and when to "build sandcastles" adds a crucial dimension of agency and self-awareness to navigating life's inevitable ups and downs.

Light is a wave. Sound is a wave. Everything is made up of waves. We are one with the universe. We do not merely exist in the universe. We are the universe. Everything is connected. The waves affect us but we also affect the waves. Science says that the very atoms that make up our bodies were forged in stars. We are, in a very real sense, stardust. In a sense we are dissolving the boundary between observer and observed. If I take the word spark from the name of this book and combine it with the word surface, I get space. Deep space. I have focused on what exists below the surface rather than on the surface but there is also what exists beyond the surface. This life is just an illusion and we are just being tested for the next life – the final wave.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Technology in Trinidad

It has been a while since I have written a tech blog post. Where to begin? Problems. We have problems. We need solutions and sometimes tech can be used to solve those problems. There are limited resources and there is a disconnect between those facing the problems and those tasked with solving the problems. There is a new AI focused ministry attachment. Maybe what we really need is a ministry of problem solving. MOPS for short. Honestly I think much of our problems would be solved if we bring back the love. Love for each other and love for God. What we love for ourselves, we love for others. Our measure of success would be the human development index. Currently we rank 60th out of 193 countries. Amidst all the problems there is much to be grateful for but we can and should do better. Much of what happens in Trinidad is affected by the ugly politics. We have an illusion of democracy. What we really have is a prolonged battle between the two main tribes. Too much energy is wasted in batt...
Read more

Cleric of life

This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." - Voltaire __________ The mathematician in me loves this quote and I want to make sense of it. Why a circle? Why not a square? Why not any other shape? A circle has no beginning and no end. It is whole, infinite, seamless. No circumference suggests that there is no ending. A center that is everywhere suggests that God is in everything. God is omnipresent and omnipotent. I learnt that Voltaire believed in God but was a critic of organised religion. I do not share the same criticism for religion. I do not blame my religion for the wrongs I see. I blame myself and the people. It is us that creates the problems and we are more than capable of creating problems with or without religion. Religion is a structure and people are the agents. I noticed the word cleric can be formed from the letters of the word circle. Circle makes me...
Read more

How was my day?

This is a chapter from my fourth book called When hunger yearns It is Friday the 22nd of March in 2024 and we have no electricity from 8am to 4pm as scheduled. T&TEC which is the electricity company, is doing maintenance work on the poles for our length of road and side roads. Looks like they are changing out some transformers. From what I understand the transformer transforms the high voltage current from the main supply into a lower voltage that comes to the houses. We were notified a week in advance so we had time to prepare. I woke up my usual time and I went to the mini mart and the doubles shop. I came home and ate my doubles. I took a bath and prepared myself for a day without the comfort of a fan and air condition. Thankfully the morning weather is cool and shady with plenty of cloud cover. I could feel bursts of breeze coming through the window. We had all the windows and the doors open. What I did not prepare for was no internet. I usually survive times of no current and ...
Read more

My Interview with the Jamaica Technology and Digital Alliance

How would you describe the tech space in Jamaica? Technology in Jamaica is at an all time high. The pandemic accelerated the digital plans for most companies and for the government. Tell us about the Jamaica Computer Society? Tell us about the Jamaica Technology & Digital Alliance? In 2021 the Jamaica Computer Society, which has been the leading technology advocacy organization in Jamaica for over 47 years, joined with the Jamaica Information Technology and Services Alliance to become the Jamaica Technology and Digital Alliance. The JTDA’s vision is Our Vision is to enable people and businesses by providing access, influence, and empowerment through technology. We bring together the stakeholders in technology to collaborate, learn, and grow. What technology improvements are needed in Jamaica? Technology continues to reshape every aspect of our lives in Jamaica. To support the growth of technology in Jamaica there needs to be a combination of robust, modern govern policies that bala...
Read more

Digital Divide in Trinidad and Tobago

The last digital divide survey was done in 2013. TATT is currently doing an updated survey called Digital Inclusion Survey . The aim of this survey is to measure the digital divide in Trinidad and Tobago. Digital divide is the gap between those that have access to technologies and those that do not. Technology includes mobile, internet, computers and TV. This survey is mentioned in the national ICT plan and is the basis of some of the action items aimed at bridging the digital divide. When the results of the last survey was released I had blogged about it as follows The results of the digital divide survey has been published by TATT. I have glanced through the report and this is what I gather. It is long with a lot of metrics and expert language so I tried to simplify it in my mind as follows. The main aim is "to pinpoint the underserved communities within Trinidad and Tobago". The digital divide is the gap between those that have and do not have access to ICTs. The service p...
Read more