The Sky

Have you ever looked at the sky, watched it change colors and enjoyed its beauty? What a marvelous experience! One day, as I was walking from my back yard toward my house, I sat down in a lounge chair, and began watching the sky. I was thoroughly enjoying myself. The sky was a gorgeous blue. I was in awe of its splendor. Scattered throughout the sky were huge billowing clouds, one on top of the other and side-by-side. Here and there were little puffs of wispy clouds, some so thin and faint that they appeared to be almost nonexistent. The weather was calm, the trees were silent in their magnificent splendor, and the birds were singing their melodious songs of love, protection, or whatever birds sing about.

As I continued watching nature's drama, the sky began to change. The blue was rapidly being replaced by an almost grayish black. The large billowing clouds were systematically being replaced by clouds that were much darker. I could feel the excitement, the energy and the power of the sky, the clouds and the wind. The wind began to move briskly, giving the air a slight chill. The leaves in the trees were bristling as the wind went through their branches, and the palm trees were swaying slightly. The birds all seemed to disappear. The beautiful calm was now being replaced. A storm was brewing.

I went to the porch, sat down and continued my observations. I was in awe of what was transpiring. The rains soon came. It was a heavy down pour. I had no difficulty understanding the old phrase, “It rained like cats and dogs.”  It seemed as if all the creatures went into hiding. Only those that could not escape the rain, the wind and the chill remained.

Soon the torrential rains gave way to a soft and gentle mist. The intensity of the storm was letting up. In no time at all, even the mist ceased to exist. Once again, the sun poked out its lovely head. The sky started changing to blue, and the clouds gently drifted off into the lands of yesterday and tomorrow. The cycle had gone full circle.

The parallels between the sky and you are unmistakable. You are the sky. The color of the sky and the clouds is your ego; your thoughts and your emotions.  The wind, rain and sunshine are your behaviors. Finally, the creatures of the environment are the people and things around you, each responding to your ego and behavior.

The understanding of the analogy between the sky and you must begin by asking yourself several key questions.  To begin with, just what constitutes the sky? Is it the color of blue, is it the clouds in the sky, is it the sun shining?  Is it any of these? No, the sky is none of these. The sky was blue and then very rapidly changed its color. Did the sky change?  Did the emptiness of the sky change? Did the sky become something other than sky? Is the color of the sky the sky? The reality of the situation is that the sky never changes. Only the things within the sky keep changing. The color changes, the clouds change, the weather changes but the sky remains the same, simply the sky. Even my perception of all the changes has changed. My beliefs and mood have changed. Beyond all the changes, the sky remaines itself.

I was talking to a friend, and asked her what she thought the sky is.  At first, she thought I was a bit crazy.  She asked me what I meant, and I repeated my question, "What do you think the sky is?"  She thought for a moment, and after a bit of contemplation she said the sky is blue.

I then asked her if she meant the sky is blue or blue is the sky.  She said the blue is the sky.  She fell into my trap.  If the blue is the sky, is there no sky at night?  The sky is no longer blue.  What happens to the sky?  Where does it go?  She laughed and said the blue is not the sky, nor is it the blackness of night.  The sky remains the sky, only its color keeps changing.

If blue is not the sky, nor black, nor this nor that, then just what is it?  The sky is there, yet it is not.  The sky can be experienced, but never specified.  We may be able to talk about the sky, we may be able to describe the elements that make up the sky, but we can never say what the sky is, it simply is, it has an essence.

The sky can only be experienced.  You know what the sky is, even if you cannot describe it.  You have experienced it; you know it from your very being.  However, because we have attributed so many things to be the sky, we lump them all together and say that this is the sky.  In reality, the sky is just the sky, and all other aspects of it are the periphery.  The clouds, the wind and the color, are all just the outer edge of the sky.  They are the personality of the sky, and not the sky itself.

The sky is constant, never ending, never changing.  You and the sky are the same.  Your being is constant, never ending, never changing.  Only the things around you keep changing:  Your actions, your emotions, your environment.  Just as the periphery of the sky has been classified as the sky and is the outer edge; your actions, your emotions and your environment have all been associated with you for so long that they actually appear to be you.  They are not you!  They are only your periphery, the outer edge, the mask surrounding who you really are.  They are your personality.  But you have been so preoccupied with your outer shell for so long, that you are no longer aware of your inner being, your essence, your totality.

You have a space within yourself that is as constant as the sky; pure, clean, free of everything and anything.  All of a sudden, the clouds begin to appear, or descend, or move.  The color of the sky begins to change.  You can no longer see the sky itself, because your focus is now on the clouds, the change in the color of the sky, the movement of the wind, the silence of the birds, or any of the million other incidental components of the sky.  You become so involved in the changes, in the periphery, that you automatically forget about the sky.  You automatically tie all these changes into one concept: the sky is changing.  In fact, the sky is not really changing.  How aware were you of the sky when it was blue?  Your attention was focused on the blueness, the warmth, the calmness.  The sky never changed.

As it is with the sky, so it is with your being.  When you change from happy to angry, or from sad to loving, or from loving to fearful, what has changed is your personality surrounding the real you, the inner you.  You have not changed.  Your personality is the clouds, the blueness or blackness of the sky, the presence or absence of the sun or the moon, or the stars.  The sky has remained the same; only the personality of the sky has changed.  Only the personality of your existence has changed, not you.  You are a constant among the inconstant.  You are not your personality.  Your personality is your emotions, your profession, your sex, your age, your religion, your marital status, your economic status, your political views, whether you are a mother or father, son or daughter, this or that.

Nature's personality is changing.  In fact, nature's personality is always changing.  The wind, the trees rustling in the wind, the clouds, the colors of the sky are all changing.  They are never constant.  Why is nature changing?  Nature is nature.  What more do you need?  What more can be said?  It is changing because it is changing.  Nature does not need a reason.  Only humans desire to know the reason.  Humans create a great explanation for why something happens, when in reality it happens simply because it happens.  How very similar you are to the very basics of nature.  In fact, you are nature.  What nature does, so you do.  You and nature are inseparable.  Look closely and you too will see the parallels, the analogy of nature to yourself.

Did nature’s personality cause me to sit on my porch?  Not at all, I caused me to move.  There was a correlation between the weather and my moving, but it was not a causal relationship.  There have been times when I sat out in the rain and totally enjoyed myself.  In addition, just as nature’ personality cannot cause me to do anything, nether can my personality cause you to do anything.  You have to make the decision.  Our personalities interact with each other; they do not cause each other.

Find your inner core, that place of nothingness, that area of yourself that does not change.  That space is the real you.  Bathe yourself in that space.  Wallow in that space.  The more you can experience the inner you, the more your world takes on the aura of perfection.  Once you begin to recognize that the outer aspects of you are really not you, but only your personality; the seriousness of the situation, of your life, of what you thought was you lessens.  You will be able to choose who you want to be rather than being the puppet of your dreams, your conditioning, your history, your family, your peers and your world.  Only by being your inner core can you be free.  To be free is to eliminate the shackles of your past and of your future.  The sky is perfectly free to be the sky.  Only its periphery changes.  Become the sky, and become free.  Meditation is a key to discovering your inner being, that place where nothing dies, that place of total centeredness, that place called NOW!

Copyright © 1999, I AM NOW™, All Rights Reserved