becoming the ocean

Wading into the ocean, determined to get to his destination, Bob battles the waves, striving to tame them and bend them to his will.

Exhausted from the endless struggle, he eventually pauses to float. Basking in the sunlight, his thoughts slow. Feeling restored, reclining atop the rhythmic ebb and flow of the water that supports him.

From this silence comes the realization that all his effort has been in vain. Reaching his destination across this vast ocean, he realizes, could be simpler if he harnessed the wind. So Bob begins to sail, feeling the wind at his back, he is propelled forward.

He pauses only to let the occasional storm pass.

In the midst of one such storm, Bob's lack of control becomes clear to him. Frightened yet curious, he surrenders. Hoping to ride out the disturbance he yields to the sea and storm as nightfall approaches. Surrendering, he allows these powerful forces of nature decide his fate.

The next day, as calm waters return, it becomes clear that he is not merely in the ocean; he is the ocean. No longer 'in' the ocean he encompasses it. - becoming so vast he is no longer the same.

Being so large removes the 'self'.

The self he knew occasionally appears as a wave, only to merge back into the whole.

Free from effort and unburdened by desire, he attains freedom - becoming nothing, yet fully united with everything.