The Lake and the Leaf

 It starts with understanding and it ends with realization.  All you want is peace.

Michael A. Singer

Still and clear reflecting the world, the lake glimmers from the sun's rays, like a million twinkling diamonds have landed on its surface.

Perfection, peace, and presence emenate from the deep depths of this water source.

I stand on the shore peeking in at the reflection of  my awkward human form. I inhale deeply, breathing in my only true desire...that which the lake is offering me now. ...perfection, peace, and presence...

Then, out of nowhere, the wind blows ...and a leaf...a tiny browning leaf... is pulled from a nearby branch that once clung so tightly to it.

It falls, twisting and turning in effortless circles. I watch as it slowly and surely drops in one big exhale from my distracted Life to the perfectly still surface of the lake. 

It lands in the center creating a tiny ripple...a tiny disturbance in the perfect peace and presence I have been witnessing.

The tiny ripple extends outward creating another tiny ripple and another... until my reflection becomes blurry.

I gasp in resistance as the image of who I am, the clarity and perfection, the peace and presence of this lake is disrupted.    I spit out that disturbance from my struggling lungs. My peace is being swallowed up by these ripples and I shout out "No!"

I know I must do something about it. 

I jump into the frigid depths. Splashing and splattering I swim towards the leaf at the center. With great desperation and contempt I swoop it up with my trembling hand. It and the weight of  my  resistance are like a heavy anchor within me.  I am pulled down into the depths. Though there is something familiar and homey in these waters below the surface... I refuse to be swallowed into an abyss I cannot make sense of with my mind. I struggle to come back up to the surface of familiarity, creating more ripples, more disturbance with every movement I make. The ripples turn into waves, and the waves into rip currents...I choke on the turbulent water as it fills my lungs with each breath I take. I cling to the leaf even tighter. 

Somehow, I manage,with leaf in hand, to awkwardly and painfully make my way back to the shoreline where I, crawling on exhausted limbs, pull myself up from the lake with its now thrashing waves. I collapse into the sand with the cause of disturbance tucked neatly in the palm of my clenched fist. I will not let it go. I will hang on to it as a reminder of what I must do.

It takes a long time for the waters to return to their pure state...to  perfection, peace and presence... but they do.  I smile then, pleased at myself for my accomplishment as I watch the sunlight flicker and dance once again on the clear surface. 

I can rest.

That is until... the wind blows and another brittle leaf falls to the lake's surface to start the rippling all over again. 

All is well.