The Moon, the Lake, and The Reflection

By Jacob James Grigware

The smaller the body the easier it is for a ripple to reflect chaos. 

Imagine a still lake. The beauty and complexity of the sky is near-perfectly reflected in its surface. When looking at the moon in this lake, it is focused. Then a fish jumps, the wind gusts, a boulder crashes, and waves are made. There is nothing one can do to stop the fish from jumping, or the wind from gusting, or the boulder from crashing. Despite wants or wishes or exhaustive efforts to keep these things from happening, waves will always be made. Notice that, when looking at the moon in these waves, or ripples, depending on the size of the disturbance, it is scattered, zipping around like a heated molecule, it is chaotic. In reality, this chaos is nothing more than a reflection. The moon is not literally zipping around chaotically.  It is still in the sky and this reflection of chaos is caused by nothing more than a tiny ripple. Something that, again, is bound to happen despite any preventive action or wishes.

Chaos can be scary. Chaos can also be lividing, despairing, heart-wrenching, confusing, distorting, incredibly complex, while also precise. It can be like an impossible, ever-changing puzzle. 

Chaos can be maddening.

But remember, this chaos is only a reflection. If the lake is small, a mere pond, let’s say, even the tiniest ripple can create an unbearable chaos, and the reflection will be distorted. If the lake is grand, even the largest wave can be manageable, and the reflection will be distorted only briefly. Thus, the smaller the body, the easier it is for a ripple to reflect chaos. 

What am I getting at? One may ask. The shallower a person's depth, in terms of emotional intelligence, understanding of one’s surroundings and others, being privy to the nuances of relationships between people, governments, ideas etc, the easier it is for an obstacle in one’s life to appear bigger than it is, and ultimately dismantle one’s control over ones own emotions, words, and most damaging, one’s actions. 

The moon: what is real

The moon, the sun, the clouds, the trees, everything that is real. The way things really are. What things truly mean. What we ourselves are always trying to decide. Living in an advanced society as we are, flimsy things like national borders, economics, and even human rights seem all too real, when they are the invented and ever-changing concepts created by humans. The issue is that our minds love to take us on joyrides from time to time, spinning what is real into a clusterfuck of emotions, turning a simple text into our worst fear, turning a best friend into our most hated enemy. The mind can be a bitch sometimes. What is real becomes even more of a challenge when fun ideas like “the Matrix” are blended into discerning what is real, when faith-based realities set unrealistic, yet confirmed by billions, rules about the world we inhabit. 

The lake: the mind

The mind, the soul, the brain, the thing on our shoulder whispering what is or isn’t a bad idea. All synonyms. All invented to describe this concept of self, to explain why we look through our eyes, and see the world in this admittedly strange way. The important thing is that we deepen this sense of self, we deepen our minds, our souls, our thoughts. We do this, and our interpretation of what is real becomes clearer. Perhaps the most effective way to do this is by expanding one’s language. Granted, language is far from perfect, it is the best tool we have to express ourselves, our love, fears, emotions, and ideas. This does have a slope, however, as one’s cunning words may easily be used to convince and justify to oneself otherwise unjust or inhumane action (arguably intelligent folk have been known in history to orchestrate atrocities). A good way to prevent this is by reminding oneself that one’s lake-mind can always be grander, and can always stir chaos. 

The reflection: how the mind interprets what is real

In calmness, serenity, focus, in peace, the reflection of what is real is near perfect. Realize that this near perfect image is, once again, nothing but a reflection. It is not real. All the time, our minds use this reflection to decipher and to decide for oneself what is real, what is the best choice, what is right, what is wrong. A reflection of our lives, our choices, our mistakes and triumphs. A reflection of our friends, family, and even those we’ve never met. A reflection of what that test score really means, or what that person really meant by those words, or how this money, this job, this choice, is going to change my life forever, for better or worse

The hardest thing to accept, is often what is real. When we are in this present and indifferent state of mind, and ripples/obstacles, have a harder time of taking us for joyrides, we see clearer what is real, only too often what is real is vile, cruel, inhumane, despicable, shameful, sickening. A shallow mind may reject these truths altogether, choosing to live in a world or country that honors them, when this is simply not true. It is up to those willing to deepen themselves to accept these intense realities, respond accordingly, and move on. 

Waves and ripples: things we have no control over that distort what we interpret as real 

A wave might be having been sent to prison. Unless for some unique circumstances, nobody wants to be sent to prison. It puts a hold on life. It tarnishes one’s reputation. It may even be dangerous, life threatening. A wave could be losing a loved one, a mother perhaps, a father, a daughter, a son, a best friend, a partner. A wave could be losing a job, losing an arm, losing an election that is the difference between the growth and destruction of a country. A ripple may be a disrespectful comment made by a customer, or a boss, or a coworker. A ripple may be losing a match of Call of Duty, it may be an unconcerned driver sitting comfortably in the passing lane, it could be anything. 

Something to establish is that waves and ripples are real. The most real things of all. The things that torment us, keep us up at night, take us on chaotically thoughtful roller coaster rides. One should not try to be indifferent to these things, these losses, offenses, atrocities, these waves. One is allowed to feel anger, grief, loss, longing, frustration, and even confusion in an effective, sprouting way. These are the very things that define us, urge us to grow into ourselves and our take on life. What one should practice, however, is feeling these things, even embracing them without thinking about them too much. Surely there is an intentional way of thinking that can help one dig up the lesson from an obstacle, but there is a colossal difference between pondering critically and ranting in one’s own head without direction. The waves are real, the distortion they create is not. 

I suppose it’s also noteworthy to realize that the reflected image is clearer from afar. When looked at too closely, the little ripples do wonders at distorting the image. But when the whole lake is looked at, hardly ever is the image too contorted to understand. 

Take this distance concept and apply it to those waves and ripples. If you focus too much on one, you may blind yourself to the entire image, losing its beauty. Think about all the years of moments of your life, culminating to this one disrespectful comment, or this one mistake. Think of all the potential years. Maybe in 10 or 20 years, you earn your freedom from prison. Will this comment still haunt you in 5 years? On your deathbed? Hell, even in 20 minutes? Don’t let it. Be above it, but do not fool yourself into believing you are above everything. Remember, waves will always be made. It is up to you to decide whether chaos is ,too. 

How does one deepen and grow one’s lake?

Meditate, read books), go on a hikes, laugh with friends, simply appreciate the beauty, take a healthy amount of psychedelics, seek out art, artists that you connect with, travel, meet exotic people, do dumb shit every once in a while but learn from it, make love, sing, dance even if you don’t think you can, write, cook, build, create, invent, observe, listen, feel, taste, smell, swim, overcome fears, there are an infinite number of ways to deepen oneself, to deepen one’s connection to this perplexing world.

By Jacob James Grigware