Anchors

Something to believe in, is what man aches to attach to, to anchor to, in the middle of this shifting, rippling, at times stormy open ocean, that sometimes seems to threaten us to flounder, to lose ourselves, tiny specks in the expanse of the vast ocean, enormous in size and complexity. "What can I hold onto to save myself from the dangers of this ocean?", man asks.

And man finds anchors. Some hold on to our families, some to our partners or companions, soothing the loneliness often derived from the inherent aloneness of existence as an individual. Some hold to our jobs, to businesses with their own purpose and role, and sacrifice their own usefulness and purpose for the purpose of the business and financial reliability. Some attach to their communities, to their countries, or to an art or a science, aligning their purpose towards the well-being and growth of these institutions. And other seek goals to chase, longing or chasing towards them with the oft unspoken belief that, if they only had *that* thing, or went to *that* place, or were to meet *that* special person, then they would succeed and all would be well, and then pain, effort, and suffering would disappear from their lives.

Every one of these anchors, however virtuous or long-standing, is impermanent. They are all made up of the same fluid substance as are our bodies, our governments, our leaders, our frameworks, our systems, our emotions, as are rocks, water, fire, gas, and clouds. None are wholly fixed or reliable as we might hope them to be, and looking deeply enough into any of them revelas it to be a mirage in the ocean of forms.

Where then should we turn our attention? How to find direction, a target for our focus, a purpose for our energy, in this maelstrom of chaos, confusion, delight and pain, if nothing around us seems worthy for our life? There is one more direction oft overlooked, that towards within.

For behind our experience, emotions, and thoughts, there remains the witness that is our core. From here we watch, from here we live, and from here we shine our impulses for our bodies to sense and to follow. It is easy to forget it, and to revel or to suffer oblivious in the whirlwinds of our emotions and our minds, driven and empowered by inertia and by world contacts. But when we manage to quiet down the whirlwinds, and turn within to listen, the subtle signal from within shines on, and can guide us if we trust it.

And subjective as it may seem, the self within is the only direction that can remain fixed in our experience.