Why waves are like the mind and the heart like the water

13 min readSep 3, 2020

Many years ago when my mind was in philosophical overdrive I stumbled across a golden relic of a Zen Koan.

“What moves, the water, or the wave?”

At first, I had no idea what it meant the question was like a huge wave going right over my head!

I dont want to tell you the answer well at least my conclusion to it but this will surely help you out.

A finger pointing at the moon is not. the moon. The finger is needed to know where to look for the moon, but if you mistake the finger for the moon itself, you will never know. the real moon.

Cracking the code came naturally to me as my eyes were fixated on the ocean’s movements.

Just like a thought can be deep so can a wave so far from the shore.

Thoughts can be shallow like the waves that wrap around your ankles preparing to be born again.

Just like thought is born so a wave is born, the wave starts far away from the shore, thoughts emerge into the brain almost from thin air, in this stage, they are far from being transcended into our physical reality, but a wave eventually will break and make way for a new wave to take its place. If we dont act on a thought it rolls through the ocean crashing on the shore with no significance it is forgotten, just another wave or one among many?

Some waves are huge and glorious showing nature’s wrath or beauty, Some thoughts are ambitious, massive, game-changing, showing potential or genius. All, however, are waves and that is all they will ever be, all waves are apart of the ocean, they are all subscribed to the same channel. They all start in the same place and all end up in the same also.

Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot.

You put water into the ocean it becomes a wave, you speak words into the brain it becomes a thought.

I think therefore I am, and I am what I am?

Can you become the wave without being apart of the ocean? Can you think always greatly and good and never small and wrongly?

I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.
The wise have eyes in their heads,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.
Then I said to myself,
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
“This too is meaningless.”
For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!

You might think you always want to think big or always want to think wise, but you will think shallow thoughts, and we all need small time thoughts.

“Hey, those big waves are great as long as they’re not destroying houses, hang on those waves are too small I can’t surf here!”

We are quick to change our minds on the way we measure greatness, just like we are quick to change our minds.

Whether you are a great wave now or a little one you will have to feel the former and the latter, as not one wave rolls by without the ocean knowing about it, just like how a thought never bypasses the heart.

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart.”

The highs and lows…

Without the heart there are no thoughts, just like without the ocean there cannot be waves.

To think is to think wrong, to think right, to think then, to think now, to think tonight, to think briefly, to think a lot, to think a little, to think not.

To be alive there are always highs and there are always lows our minds go where the wave rolls.

The pursuit of happiness

People chase happiness like surfers chase big waves, and just like the waves will not always be big, you will not always be happy. Does the ocean judge the waves that roll by big or small? Does the heart criticize bad actions or encourage good ones?

When we think about things differently the things we think about become different.

When we start listening to our hearts it can change the way we think about each thought, each wave, each experience. So the waves dont change we do.

I’m going now to have to spoil the answer to our original question. The water and the wave are not separate they are one and the same. Before words, there was the truth, unlabeled, ever-flowing forever graceful. Is a handstand not a human? A ripple, not the water? The movement of the wave is pure unseparated unity and when we apply this logic to connect our heads to our hearts we can have a much easier time experiencing what the water has to offer.

What lasts?

Not happiness. But contentment. Not pleasure. But awareness.

Let’s not forget about joy, when we have contentment and awareness whether the waves are big or little we can feel grounded. Whether good days or bad, we can feel stable.

“Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”

Attachment issues.

When we attach ourselves to the highs and lows we always crash only the severity changes. focus on being the ocean, focus on the great privilege it is to even be, to even see, to even exist, to be able to resist.

“Be formless”

Moving water, still ocean.

For does the water move out of its place when it becomes the wave? And isn’t the ocean always easy to find doesn’t it stay in the same space? Just like the heart stays the mind moves, the heart sees it all. How often in your life have you said “I changed my mind” compare that to how many times you have said “I had a change of heart” you will see just in that example how stubborn the heart is and how indecisive the mind is.

Mind Control

Along time ago, it seems perhaps since we had our first thought. We presume that the mind calls the shots. The mind gets the body to do things, and the body can be a slave to the mind, for example, “eat this thing that is bad for you and it will make me feel good” the mind said to the body. “Get a tattoo so I look badass,” said the mind to the body as the body prepared to take the pain. Isn’t it ironic that when we listen to the body “push through this exercise and you will feel great and I will become stronger” said the body to the mind, the mind wants to do anything but what the body wants to do. The mind feels superior to the body as we take care of it before our body so in the hierarchy it is higher, but even if the mind thinks it is greater then the heart, watch it bow down to it ten times out of ten.

Well, hang on where is the heart in all this? I see the heart like the big CEO, he uses the mind like its manager and the body like a worker. When there is a massive decision to be made the heart barges in and calls the shots, he lets the mind think it runs the show because there are many great things that come from the mind and the mind couldn’t accept anything less than full control it would hurt its ego, the heart makes the mind think like it’s the most important one so it can do the unthinkable and organize every play until its the last minute of the game because that’s when the final score is decided. You might think well why doesn't the manager revolt it does all the work anyway and the heart scoops in and takes the glory or makes very important decisions, well remember the opportunity and the money come from the CEO to the manager everything that they have learned also came from the CEO and what they present in the workplace comes from how the CEO would like things to be what is in there nature their codes of conduct, etc, Therefore the mind cannot be higher then the heart as everything that it ever made came from the heart although the heart needs the mind to represent it, they need each other desperately they need to be on the same page!

The heart strikes when the iron is hot, making decisions that are sometimes unthinkable. Then the illusion dissipates that the mind runs the show cause who makes the calls when it matters? Things like following your heart might sound very cheesy but there are simple truths there. “I just couldn’t find it in my heart to do it” this phrase you would have used many more times then “I had a change of heart”.

Isn’t it funny how the mind can plan something for years, and the heart sweeps you in a different direction and even though it goes against all logic you pack your bags anyway? Whos calling the shots now aye? So if there is any truth in what I am saying, why wait for years when you can start now?

Is a company better when the manager respects the CEO’s wishes and the worker the managers? If the manager listens to the CEO and the CEO is in the right place then both will bring glory to one another. Isn’t it funny though that the CEO is behind the curtain and the manager is on display working day in and day out and all of a sudden when something big happens the CEO magically appears? If the CEO isn’t right what chance does the manager have? The manager represents the CEO in everything he does whether the CEO likes it or not just like the mind represents everything the heart is whether we think we are wicked or pure. They are both independent of each other and both of there behaviors are incredibly linked, but still, the heart reigns supreme. If we have thought, it goes down to the heart, the heart processes it and discards or keeps it, but best believe when you open your mouth your heart uses something that you have kept something that is actually part of you.

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart.”

Its time for a change of heart

If the CEO isn’t worth working for find another one, change your job, change your life, change your heart!

A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.

Once the heart is happy and filled with gladness, it starts to give the mind more direction more clarity, it leads to more opportunities more growth.

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles. The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Do you want to be a good tree, live a good life, have good things?

Follow your heart

But how? upon reading this you might think, well I am a bad tree and I produce bad fruit and that’s all I ever have been, and all I ever will be.

Great, this was exactly my thought process for years.

Nature vs Nurture

If you cant manage your thoughts and they corrupt your heart find someone or something that can. To be honest with you I couldn’t, I couldn’t find something or someone who could tame my wild, sometimes self-destructive nature.

I was filled with thoughts of anger, bitterness, lust, emptiness, depression, etc.

Look at me, this is the life I chose
people around me so cold, man my heart dun froze

This reflected in the things I did, my list of bad choices is so big my name might actually be Earl. Notice when someone is filled with good and kindness you might hear “ That person has a good heart” be brought up in conversation. But when something terrible is committed we dont use the phrase “ That person has a bad heart” which I'm not sure why because that is exactly the issue, all they are doing is acting out how they feel inside which is effecting their thoughts which once manifested create evil.

I found God I found a Good manager

Long story short I eventually found god

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Let’s break this down, first of all, we have to think of the common comparison of the heart and the spirit. When Jesus says all your heart, this means to give it all your spirit too! to give it everything you have to really believe to surrender to have hope! You have to hope and trust in God and if you let him into your heart, he then can be the manager of your thoughts and start to change them as there is no way as we explained before that he can change your thoughts without entering your heart as that is where it all comes from remember? It’s like stopping kids from eating cake to much at school do you individually take it from there hands one by one each day or just stop people making cakes in the canteen so frequently in the first place!

and do not lean on your own understanding.

This means if you were like me and can’t make great decisions without a change of heart or a helper, you have to trust that God will take care of things, you won’t feel comfortable giving Jesus the wheel haha, if you believe you can find a better route or choose a better road and let’s face it pal if you are or were like me you haven’t done a crash-hot job my G, by all means though , go ahead, for some this can be achieved. If your thoughts lead you to darkness let someone take control who can take them to the light.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Jesus did make my path straight, I feel bigger better and stronger, fuller, and more joyful it is a gift that keeps giving, hence why I mention his name when I write this article cause he is the reason I now am becoming a good tree. I could have written this article and left Jesus out, but that’s like a rally driver disrespecting the co-driver, a fighter not thanking his coach, a well-raised kid not thanking his parent, basically a fool.

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

Your ego here can make you become a fool, and sometimes despite our hardest human efforts sometimes we can't change from a bad tree to a good tree we need extra help, and lucky God’s line is always open.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

We cannot be perfect people but have perfect intentions, I’ve probably said this numerous times in articles but it rings true to me, change isn’t a magic wand, it is a fight to the death. So put your gloves on and work towards a heart of gold!

What God can give if you give your heart up.

I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.

This is a heart that beats, not one that is unused and malnourished.

My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways.

If God lives through you, you can see him in action, but he can only do this with your permission. You have to invite him into your heart.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

You can have many plans, many thoughts but gods will always reign supreme so instead of fighting the tide learn to drift with it. I've always loved this quote “Man makes plans and God laughs.”

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Well, how do I access this treasure?

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

So by letting God change your heart, letting him take control, you will gain what you wanted deep down anyway, how much the CEO will thank and reward the manager for helping the company make such profits and gain multiple opportunities, The mind will thank the heart for taking the stress off its shoulders and the heart will thank the mind for taking its true course more seriously. An employer values a worker who can fix problems on there own and doesn’t come running for help at every chance, an employer who doesn’t have to be asked to do things but just does them, “ Hey you dont have to worry about doing that I have dealt with it”

My Apologies

I understand that this article, goes a little bit all over the place, and it might not make so much sense to everyone, it is quite philosophical and quite abstract but for this, I ask you to apply one of my favorite Bruce Lee quotes when you digest this block of writing.