Contrasts – It’s Clear, It’s Foggy

By Colin Whitby

One weekend late last year my wife and I went to our retreat, a caravan on a coastal site in North Somerset, to close it down for the winter. We clean it up, switch off the electrics and drain down the water to prevent damage from our cold winter.

Usually at this time of year, early November, we’d be wrapped up to protect ourselves from the cold and wet, enjoying the bleak weather for its freshness and clarity.

This year we were sitting out in the sun, or walking along the beach with clear blue skies and cool light breezes. The crystal clarity of the weekend’s weather came to a sudden and unexpected halt when we travelled home. The day had started clear and we sat in the sun not wanting the weekend to end, another wonderful and unexpectedly peaceful day.

Then as we set off we noticed the weather changing, clear skies made way to fog, cool breezes made way for cold chilly and damp winds. When we arrived home we were told it had been like this all day and people could not believe that just 40 miles away it was clear and sunny.

So it is with enlightenment, sometimes we can have such a beautiful ‘knowing’ moment, something touches us so deeply we wonder at its clarity and so see ourselves and our purpose so clearly. Then we return to the ‘real’ world, the world of busy diaries, of delayed trains and pointless meetings (and that is just for starters). The key point to note is that all moments are part of the journey, the clear peaceful moments will help change the way we see and react to the rest. Fog is only low cloud, the sun is still shining out there.

Why not fly above the clouds, let your heart feel the sun’s rays and know you are in exactly the right place. This place may appear frustrating, it may challenge and even annoy, but hidden in your reaction is the key, the background trigger. Observing how we react to each situation is the beginning, how we chose to behave and how we view our world.

Being enlightened is not always about beaming light and love all over the place, although this can be a pleasant side effect, it’s about observing our reactions and then choosing to ‘be’, to be ourselves.

Above the fog of our thoughts we are crystal clear consciousness, we are divine beings, it’s just that sometimes we forget, after all, we’re only human, aren’t we?