Washougal River

Last night, as I drove home, the three-quarters moon was as bright in a clear sky as if it were a full moon. As I came along the Washougal River, a mist rose from it like a pure white, mystical, fifty foot tall wall. This was the most beautiful, yet impenetrable, mist I’ve ever seen. It was lighted directly overhead by the moon, which gave it the stunning illusion of physical substance.

Not only was this such a magical sight that I nearly drove off the road, but it was uncannily serendipitous …..

In my reading yesterday of Michael Bernard Beckwith’s SPIRITUAL LIBERATION, he wrote that after the world was created, there arose a mist.

The Mist of Illusion

This mist was always explained to me as a physical parting of, in simplified terms, wet matter and dry matter, or (again, very simplistically) water and land. Which may be the case. Michael Beckwith added to my understanding. He pointed out that numerous holy books define The Mist as the mist of illusion that comes between us and “the real” in order to make this three dimensions appear to be reality.

Maya

This mist is called maya in Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism. Maya manifests and maintains the illusion, the dream of duality in what our senses perceive to be the phenomenal Universe. The goal of enlightenment is to understand maya, to see, sense, know, learn, intuit, and/or understand that a separation between the self and All That Is is a false duality.

But what a beautiful mist is maya! What a myst-ical myst! Wake up in the dream, live and love every moment of this illusion with curiosity, exploration, joy, and delight. You brought yourself here, to this dream, on purpose, don’t sleepwalk through it. Instead, discover all it has to offer. Knowing it’s an illusion opens up vast realms of beauty and enriching experience.