What if the layers of imagined concrete walls that we’ve laid down over the years and termed “identity” aren’t really walls?

When the Buddhists say, “there is no mountain,” what they are saying, I think, is that “whatever we see is the result of our perception.”

And perception can be altered.

So, those barriers that are preventing you and me from being our “true, authentic selves” aren’t real barriers.

They are imagined.

They don’t need to be destroyed, knocked down, or chipped away at over time like Andy Dufresne did.

Instead, they can be mentally embraced. Loved even for the service they performed in getting us to where we are today.

And then, like kicking over a sand castle or maybe just tossing some sand into the wind, they can be released.

And maybe it’s even possible to feel a sense of childlike joy as we do. After all, we built the sand castle with its high walls and now, as is the way of the world, it’s time to move on to the next activity.

Either you do it or, eventually, and perhaps more dramatically (and painfully), eventually the tide comes in and knocks it over anyway.

But no matter, the walls are gone. The self remains.

It’s up to us to determine how long it takes and how much pain we choose to endure to get there.

What if the layers of imagined concrete walls that we’ve laid down over the years and termed “identity” aren’t really walls?

When the Buddhists say, “there is no mountain,” what they are saying, I think, is that “whatever we see is the result of our perception.”

And perception can be altered.

So, those barriers that are preventing you and me from being our “true, authentic selves” aren’t real barriers.

They are imagined.

They don’t need to be destroyed, knocked down, or chipped away at over time like Andy Dufresne did.

Instead, they can be mentally embraced. Loved even for the service they performed in getting us to where we are today.

And then, like kicking over a sand castle or maybe just tossing some sand into the wind, they can be released.

And maybe it’s even possible to feel a sense of childlike joy as we do. After all, we built the sand castle with its high walls and now, as is the way of the world, it’s time to move on to the next activity.

Either you do it or, eventually, and perhaps more dramatically (and painfully), eventually the tide comes in and knocks it over anyway.

But no matter, the walls are gone. The self remains.

It’s up to us to determine how long it takes and how much pain we choose to endure to get there.