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Matthew Catlett

The most fundamental confusion we have is between clouds and skies.

When we strive to obtain a specific object or circumstance, we are seeking after a cloud. Even if we find it, it will hold only for a moment – and then it tumbles and evolves, changing endlessly. That is the nature of clouds.

When we strive to arrange all the elements of our lives to match our vision of happiness, we are seeking to find a tableau of clouds all put together just right. Finding such a painting is even more difficult than seeking after a single cloud, and even more fleeting if we succeed.

Clouds are forms and the sky is meaning. The objects and circumstances that pass through your life are forms – they are only expressions of the meaning in which they arise and subside. Even your life itself is just a season in the sky – seasons come and go, just as storms and clouds within the seasons. There is no reason to seek after clouds or to run away from them. The serenity of a cloudless sky is also just a passing, temporal thing. Let the sky revolve, as it must.

Rather than this cloud of mind-body, focus on the sky of consciousness in which it appears.

Rather than ask that the clouds be painted in a specific way, focus on the Painter and watch His astonishing work.

Rather than ask that the individual forms of love that you are so fond of remain frozen forever, consider how wonderful it is that this sky is painted with such clouds.

After all these turns away from clouds toward sky, you will make a most astonishing discovery. The sky is not moving, only these clouds. The sky does not age, only these clouds. There are not even skies, but only sky – a singular sky that surrounds the entire world. In this immense and lovely sky, even the planet itself is a cloud. There is One consciousness with an infinite number of edges of attention, and your localized consciousness is just such an edge.

Edges are clouds too. The differences between You, the Beloved, and Love itself are nothing more than tumbling collections of vapor… vanishing then reappearing, eternally. Knowing this, seeing that you are the Witness, you are free.

Free to act with compassion toward all beings, so that an angry cloud that spits lightning does not block your sight.

Free to accept what comes and release what goes, so that you stop constantly averting your eyes from the symphonic Creation.

Free to be thankful for all the tapestries unveiled to you so that you could at last see the Eternal beyond the turning of the seasons.

When you are freed from chasing clouds, the line between witnessing and creating vanishes.

Matthew Catlett

Matthew Catlett is a blessed father, husband, writer, and web developer in southern California. You can learn more about him on his blog, Programming Life, which is focused on spirituality, self-improvement, and inspiration. You can also contact him for web development services through his consulting website, Peripheral Sight.

For more information, please visit programminglife.net

This Post Has 18 Comments

    1. Thank you for reading, I’m so glad you enjoyed it – have a wonderful week, blessings Ryan. 🙂

  1. This piece is beautiful. I keep returning to it in my mind. It imparts grace, wisdom and an almost ethereal knowing. Thank you for sharing it, it has moved me beyond expression.

    1. Thank you, Dawn! May you have a most blessed day, and I am thankful to the Beloved for helping me to express at least sense of the illumination and loveliness upwelling from the ground of consciousness. <3

  2. This spoke to me so deeply today. I have been moving closer to what you have described, but never thought of it this way before. What a beautiful and powerful description! I will carry it with me. Thank you for sharing this with all of us.

    1. Thank you, Monelle! I much appreciate you taking the time to comment, and your kind words. May you have a most wonderful day, much love. Blessings. <3

  3. Well written buddy, as like I got a new theory to find something original, what we always search but we just met with its cover or illusion or got failed. I just wanna say you that it was a rechargeable inspiration to me in a new way…..

  4. What a profound way of looking at clouds in that way! This has rang a bell inside me. Many Thanks for sharing. I have downloaded this into my forever reading files.

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