The Droplet

and the Sea

Copyright © 2010 Lisa M. Lindeman

Cover illustrations by Lisa M. Lindeman

Book design by Lisa M. Lindeman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced in any form or by any electronic or

mechanical means including information storage and

retrieval systems, without permission in writing from

the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who

may quote short excerpts in a review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: October 2010

ISBN: 1453873643

The Droplet

and the Sea

A Story of Awakening

By Lisa M. Lindeman

The journey of awakening

begins easily enough...

...with a droplet of water

dribbling here and there

across the earth.

With a droplet identity.

And a droplet life.

You are wandering along.

Oblivious.

Happy.

(for the most part)

♪♫

Although

you have a lot of

surface tension

...and a few gas bubbles.

One day,

you encounter something

very strange.

It might be

a meaningful coincidence

that turns your head

or a brief moment

of indescribable clarity

that gives you a glimpse

or a perception

of something other

than what you expected

you could see

that stops you.

Nothing has ever felt

so important,

so relevant.

All that water

seems familiar somehow.

Like home.

Only... closer.

The water exerts a great pull.

Something within you knows,

though you cannot say

how it knows,

but it knows

that the great expanse of water

holds a missing something

of your being.

I

am going to love this

--you say to yourself.

As if entering

the ocean of existence

is just another experience

to be felt

by the little I.

You dip your toe

into the water and...

disappear!

In that moment

you

become

YOU.

Wordless

bliss

fills your awareness.

Understanding.

Compassion.

But...

Holy crap!

Becoming

YOU can be scary!

I mean,

where did

you

go?

You grab on

to what you were before.

A droplet identity.

With a droplet life.

I mean,

you run like hell.

And yet...

You miss the great expanse.

To enter the sea again,

you realize

you must lose everything.

(in a way)

(not really)

To enter the sea again

seems an enormous task

for

one

little

droplet.

Silly droplet.

The s

ea

rem

em

bers

.

YO

U r

em

em

ber.

Blo

op!

♪♫

Who are you?

Are you the droplet?

Are you the sea?

Or are you both

the droplet

and the sea

from beginning to end?

Do you fall into the water

only to be consumed

by the waves?

Do you

become

the great swell

--opening your eyes

from within its vast,

borderless body?

Pose these questions

to the sea,

and the sea says...

Bloop!

About the Author

Lisa Lindeman is a droplet who earned a BA in

psychology from the University of California,

Berkeley, in 1999. She will earn her PhD in psychology

in 2010 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In her graduate research and personal writing, she

explores the relationship between conceptual thought

and emotion as well as the intersection between

consciousness and reality. She began meditating in

1993 following an accidental plunge into that sea of

awareness that permeates existence. She loves to

paint and dance. She lives in Oklahoma with her two

little droplets, Erik and Luke.