“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop.” - Rumi
Everything in this life that you use and love was once imagined. Everything.
Someone thought it up and then birthed that thought into existence. There is nothing around you right now, nothing that you interact with on a daily basis that was not born of imagination.
When I say liberation, what do you imagine?
Can you imagine it? Is it in words? Images? Feelings? A financial amount, a house in the south of France, kids off to college, that neighbor finally moved out, that relationship ended, the promotion arrived, you stopped believing you were less than?
If we want Liberation - we have to be able to imagine it. It’s hard to think of a world with equality, regenerative equity, sustainability, and equal rights. It’s hard to imagine that this hate that is ingrained in us will ever be cleansed on a cellular level. But we have to imagine it. As the poet Clint Smith tells his future son so perfectly: “This world is a social construction; it can be reconstructed. This world was built; it can be rebuilt. Use everything that you have to reimagine the world.”
In Buddhism, the word “immeasurable” is often used in line with imagination. Because, many of the feelings and perspectives that Liberation is aiming for - the profound peace and freedom are immeasurable to a small mind. To a god in human drag.
For example, if I say I’m gonna give you one million dollars, there is a good chance that you can imagine what that’s like. You can imagine what you would do with that money almost immediately. You can imagine how you would spend it or invest it, how you would feel, who you’d tell first, who wouldn’t tell. There are so many movies and examples about what to do with money.
But we don’t have that many examples of what it’s like to have immeasurable peace, liberation, no worries, no doubts, immeasurable joy and self love, a confidence that cannot be confined, a love that is not dependent on circumstances or people or situations, a liberation that is ever present.
We can’t always imagine it, not really. And yet, we walk in that direction anyway.
Why? Because I think deep down inside our imaginations do have a blueprint for this. We have all had many little moments of this immeasurable Liberation - a moment of exact right place at exact right time. A peace that is beyond words. When everything syncs up perfectly and you are totally present with what is.
In line with this imagination is the practice of expansion. Expanding our thinking. Expanding our imaginations. This is why so many Eastern philosophy meditations are about seeing beyond our little “me” bubble - i.e. Imagining our death, imagining us as wide as the world, imagining us as the cosmos, breathing in all the world's suffering and breathing out peace, imagining how in each breath is the remnants of every other person and thing throughout all of time, imagining emptiness, imagining a string that connects each and every one of us.
One of my favorite techniques to practice expanded thinking and to strengthen my imagination, is by remembering that my current thinking / imagining model is actually quite small, limited, and contained.
We think we know what will happen tomorrow, but just because the water boils every morning, doesn’t mean it will boil this time. There’s a million other possibilities. There are more outcomes than we can even conceive of. Physics, metaphysics, math and the laws of nature tell us that there are thousands of other elegant solutions to any challenge, to any choice we make.
The script is not fixed. Sure, there are varying probabilities, and many destinations will lead to the same outcome. What I’m trying to say is that there are more dimensions, more angles, more perspectives. There is growth and possibility beyond our wildest dreams. There are more loving, kind and compassionate ways to look at the world. There’s so much more potential in us and in the universe, then we are tapping into at any given moment.
Here’s an easy way to begin to expand our imaginations. I want you to consider all the help you have received from strangers - the home you live in, or the place you inhabit, the clothes your wearing, the food you eat, the stacked shelves at the grocery store, the roads you drive on, the water that comes out of the faucet… all these things and more were imagined, designed, and made by people you do not know and never will know. Strangers and ancestors. And yet, without their efforts, you wouldn’t be able to survive. Say to yourself, “I recognize this.”
Another one: Think about your parents, caretakers, loved ones and friends, baristas, strangers, near and far away, all these people who cannot go through a single day without experiencing pain, regret, fear, longing, and suffering. Think of them and their suffering. Say to yourself, “I recognize this.”
Now your imagination is expanded.
(Recognizing something is one of the most powerful and simple doors to Liberation)
Liberation is the ability to widen our hearts and imaginations. To begin to not only conceive of the immeasurable qualities that come with liberation, but also to touch them, to actualize them. To imagine that the world can get better, that this isn’t as good as it gets. To become a cathedral of expansion, a cathedral of peace and possibility for self and others.
Rumí says, “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop.” Imagine that! Gods in human drag - imagine that.
We got put into droplets, flesh suits, bags of bones, to play the part of gods in human drag… but, we are the ocean. We are the cosmos. Imagine that.
I really enjoyed this read. I’ve been living away from home for the last two months and it felt so good to recognize and appreciate how helpful and supportive both strangers and my loved ones have been. It also very much reminded me of my favorite short story, The Egg by Andy Weir. I think the message that have to feel everything to feel liberated is such a healthy way to grow. Thanks Chris!