
I am listening to a discourse by Thich Nhat Hanh, on the true nature of things. He begins by pulling out a matchbox and asking us, is the flame not already there, it has not manifested true, it requires certain conditions to manifest, oxygen, for me to strike the match, but can we qualify that the flame is not there. No we cannot.
As I sat in meditation, my mother came to me. I was once in her womb, my parents conceived me. But is that the truth. My mother is made of the air, the sunshine, the water, minerals, certain conditions were required for her to manifest, but can we say that she was not already there, in the air, the sunshine, the water, her life was always there in these elements. So then, is not the sunshine my mother, and the water, the air, the earth. This is not intellectual, I feel it. I am grateful, for my mother, my teacher, for the air, and the sunshine, the water, and the earth.