Way back in 2011, I wrote a blog post called “How to Build Your Sandcastle.” It’s about how spiritual awakening shows us that our egos are nothing but temporary structures.
During some of the more active phases of ego dissolution, it feels like water is washing out the foundation right from underneath us. The solid structure we thought was ourselves is shown to be nothing at all.
After all this years, I still love this metaphor, so I recently added some more thoughts to this post about how this sandcastle metaphor is true for all life.
All of human life is impermanent. All of life is a sandcastle half a step away from the next wave that will wash it away. In realizing this, we find freedom from the grasping and striving we often put forth trying to make a permanent “sandcastle” and protect it from the ever changing waves of life.
Along with my 2021 addition, I’ve left the original post as is. I think the original offers some interesting perspective on how I’ve grown and changed as a teacher and person in the last 10 years.
Enjoy!
