Wave Upon the Ocean

Am aigéan tond. (Irish Gaelic)
Om eye-gone tawn. (Phonetic)

“I am the tidal wave.”

~ Amergin

This is the second line in Amergin’s song-spell. The contemporary Buddhist philosopher Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Enlightenment for a wave in the ocean is the moment the wave realizes it is water.” Our lives are like a wave in the ocean of being or reality. The ocean itself is flat stillness, but when moved by energy it rises up into waves. The wave is not something separate from the ocean, but is the ocean itself waving. We tend to think of ourselves as independent separate beings, isolated from the rest of reality/nature/God, like the word “wave” is a separate word than “ocean.” But this is a kind of illusion of consciousness, perhaps a result of the dualistic subject-object awareness of the mind. When we transcend this dualism of the mind, we can actually become aware of the whole ocean of non-dual consciousness, oneness, or at-one-ment, and we realize that that is our true Self, our true Name/Identity, our true essential nature. Our mortal life is like a wave in that ocean, rising up for a moment, expressing that ocean, giving shape to the surface, form to this energy, incarnating this deeper reality, and then eventually subsiding back into stillness.

What is it like to be a wave upon the ocean?