Arising and falling away

A sunrise

28 October 2021

I could see a red glow in the sky when I went out for my walk, which told me that this morning I might like to walk to the beach. When I got there, I was surrounded by an intense display of red and blue. It was totally different to yesterday’s sky, which was subtle and light, with pastel shades of orange and yellow.

I’ve been taking my camera with me on my morning walks these past few weeks. There are some scenes I’ve become fascinated with and want to photograph more, and the pastel colours in particular have been wonderful to see. But today I was looking at a far more saturated party in the sky.

I love watching how the clouds above the horizon change colour with the sunrise, and I often get lost in that world. In fact, I was so focused on making photos of the clouds today that I didn’t notice the guy who I was blocking on the path. Oooops.

The colour show was mesmerising. How could you not stop and look at it?

And then, in a matter of just moments it was gone, the colours in the sky, everything. It was as if it had never happened.

Had I been a few moments later getting out of the house, I’d never have seen it.

It made me reflect on how fleeting moments are. Bright moments, colourful moments, dull moments, grey moments. They arise and pass away all by themselves. We don’t make them happen and we can’t stop them disappearing. It reminded me to take notice of what is right in front of me because that will soon disappear and be replaced by something else completely different. And that too will disappear, all by itself.

There is no beginning and there is no end, there is just one moment.

This moment.