Beyond Relative Truths

A popular zen story reads:

A baby fish once asked an elderly fish, "I keep hearing people talking about this thing called the sea. Just what is the sea?" The elder fish replied, "The sea is what surrounds you." "But why can't I see it?", retorted the baby fish.

"The sea is within you and all around you. You were born in the sea and will die in the sea. The sea envelops you, just like your own skin does," said the elder fish.

When we are caught up in self-enclosing activities, all our knowledge is based on relative facts and if there is nothing to compare an idea with, we are limited in our understanding of it. What is black if we don't know of white? To get past the relative concepts and truly understand ourselves, we must first accept the relative things as they are and not by the labels they possess. A Ferrari needn't be looked upon as a symbol of status but merely as a car that gets one from point A to point B. If the type of car, the size of a house, the amount of money in the bank, are looked upon as symbols of our accomplishments, we are caught in the web of relative truths and unnecessarily limit our experience of life.

Once we start to accept things are they really are and not propagate our mental ideas behind them, we enter the indescribable realm of experience. Meditation enhances this art of accepting and brings "the sea within you and all around you" to life.