The Weight of the Surface
The lotus leaf is a master of buoyancy, its surface coated in microscopic wax crystals that force water to bead and roll away, keeping the plant dry even in the heart of a deluge. It survives by refusing to be weighed down by the very element that sustains it. We are not so graceful. We tend to collect the heavy things—the anxieties of the morning, the regrets of the previous season—and let them pool in the hollows of our lives until we are submerged. We forget that it is possible to exist within a turbulent environment without letting the water settle into our own fibers. To remain buoyant is not to avoid the rain, but to cultivate a surface that allows the world to slide off, leaving the core untouched and dry. If we could learn to shed the excess as easily as the leaf, would we find ourselves drifting more freely across the surface of our own days?
Saniar Rahman Rahul has captured this delicate balance in his beautiful image titled Jol Moyur. It serves as a quiet reminder of how one might move across the water without becoming part of the depths. Does this stillness invite you to shed a little of your own weight today?
