Monday, October 1, 2012

Bit by Bit - Chapter 1, Part 1

Trey Smith

In the northern darkness there is a fish and his name is K'un. The K'un is so huge I don't know how many thousand li he measures. He changes and becomes a bird whose name is P'eng. The back of the P'eng measures I don't know how many thousand li across and, when he rises up and flies off, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When the sea begins to move, this bird sets off for the southern darkness, which is the Lake of Heaven.
~ Burton Watson translation ~
Life is about transformation. While it may appear otherwise, nothing remains static. Our bodies slough off dead cells each day which are replaced by new ones and, every morning we awaken, it could be said that we are a new person -- born again.

The sun -- that seeming constant in the sky -- is not the same sun of yesterday. The air is not the same we breathed in our last breath. Though our consciousness tries to persuade us that things are the same one moment to the next, it is nothing more than a psychic illusion.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.

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