A Nondual Fairy Tale

[Guest guest]

Once upon a time, there were billions of bubbles drifting in an endless,

timeless, expansive void, something like empty space or pure awareness.

Inside each bubble existed some of the empty space outside it, but also a

cloud of memories, images and habits. Most bubbles were either unaware of

the empty space inside them, or so focused on the memories and habits that

they did not perceive the awareness-space.

 

The walls of each bubble were more or less permeable. Many had managed to

make themselves totally impermeable, self-enclosed in a world of their own.

 

The entire goal of each bubble was to strengthen its own sense of

" Bubbleness. " This it tried to do by doing these things:

 

(1) Strengthen the outer membrane, so that neither the empty space nor

other bubbles could intrude. The stronger and tougher the membrane, the

more the bubbles felt they *existed*. You see, each bubble treasured its

own separation, and at the same time was utterly terrified of the idea of

its nonexistence. It was so used to being a bubble that it did not even

perceive the space in which it floated, and most did not even perceive the

space within. Most of the bubbles were entirely ignorant of what lied

outside them, and were obsessively focused on their membranes, and the

contents of memory within.

 

(2) Constrict, to become smaller, so that there was more of the

memory-habit content and less of Awareness. You see, the bubbles were

terrified of the Awareness they contained within. It intimated of the

empty space that lied outside them, the unknown. They had been bubbles so

long that they had forgotten what they were and where they were. Yet, as

bubbles, they suffered and caused other bubbles to suffer. The bubbles

were something like prisoners that had been in prison so long that they had

become totally institutionalized, and were terrified of parole.

 

The individual bubbles were so self-enclosed that they could not

communicate with the other bubbles. To strengthen their membranes and

constrict further, they bumped up against other bubbles. This bumping was

termed by the bubbles as either " love " or " hate. " Both the words " love "

and " hate " were used to describe a bump against another bubble. By bumping

and pressing against each other, the sense of separation was increased, and

the membranes of each bubble strengthened. The " hate " bumps were often

violent, even attempting to pop other bubbles, while the " love " bumps were

more of the nature of prolonged pressing. Yet the results were the same.

Even when a bubble had pressed against another bubble a long time, and

somehow wanted to merge with that bubble, the membranes of each made it

impossible.

 

Often, bubbles delighted in popping or trying to deflate other bubbles. It

strengthened their own membranes to do so.

 

Each bubble had a specific lifespan. When a bubble died, it popped, yet

through habit and desire the contents of memories and habits were held

together just long enough for another membrane to form around them. When

a bubble popped and re-formed, the previous contents of memory were

sublimated or hidden away, and new memories began to form, thus making each

bubble a part of an endless cycle. Again and again, membranes formed,

dissolved and re-formed around collections of memories and desires.

 

The bubbles usually referred to their membranes as " I " or " me, " and

considered them the center around which the internal contents of memory and

desires flowed. Rather than seeing the membrane as the outer part of

themselves, they thought the membrane to be the innermost part, while

thinking the inside contents the outer. Very few of the bubbles ever

managed to see past this illusion.

 

Very rarely, but occasionally, a bubble began to focus on its membrane, and

wonder if there could be anything outside it. Most bubbles were so

terrified of anything outside them that they could not even entertain the

possibility that they were bubbles. Occasionally, though, a bubble became

conscious of the fact that it was a bubble, and somehow realized that the

membrane, the " I, " was their own outer shell, not their center. These rare

bubbles began to believe that there might be something outside of their

membranes, and that perhaps whatever was outside them was not threatening,

but would give them a new kind of freedom - something much greater than

just being a bubble. Somehow, they sensed that the endless expanse was so

much greater than what was trapped within the membrane.

 

.... To Be Continued....