The air warms and the dew scatters drops of water along the surface. Each drop marks its own land, with space separating it from the others. The temperature rises and the heat bears ever more moisture, pushing the drops down together to form a body of water. What was a moment ago disconnected, left to its own, is now part of something greater. What one drop knew from its former experience in one spot on the surface is now knowledge accessible for the rest of the drops, all now connected as a single whole. The identity of each has pervaded through the entire being; individuality having melted away to a reality without the limitations of separation. What is cause for one and consequence for the other, once upon a time both disjointed and estranged, is now cause and consequence to both.

A man’s mind wanders to higher possibilities, and yet before one magnificient realization of potential comes a series of smaller ones. A single man, in and of itself, has a lifespan which stretches to an average length of 70 years. Each moment of his earthly career passively follows the relative speed of time, fixed by an objective measure but experienced at a varied pace depending on a man’s intensity of perception. The long stretch, however short it may seem at the very end, is often spread thin between one event and the next, where the causes of today are often left unseen in the consequences that are reaped tomorrow. A man himself is typically not nearly attentive enough from one moment to the next to fully apprehend the intimate relationship which this thread of time offers.

A single moment of our life is a potential spot where a drop of consciousness can form. It is a potential where the possibility to be self-aware of the moment exists. Each drop leaves, so to speak, a greater than normal mark or imprint on the active memory of a man, the type of recollection which he can call upon as vivid and lucid moments of his past. With such a potent stain upon the memory of his steps, he is far more likely to be able to connect the dots and understand the factors that are at play between the sowed and the reaped. The drops can be formed one by one, separated at first by one opportunity to be present to the next, but at certain auspicious moments we may even be able to increase the depth and breadth of that drop of force, heating our senses to a higher intensity than was hitherto possible.

The drops must be laid and a man must be attentive. The moment is passing as time pulls us through the landscape of what will be, regardless of our desires, an inexorable dynamic where the past is made from the present and the present made from the future. One can choose to throw down pebbles to the level of his feet, marking the track, and by that right afford himself the advantage of being able to reconcile one moment from the ones which came before. It is a great mistake to believe that living in the present is the outright goal, for time is a large body with both head and toe, and we are in the position to mark the territory with respect to the larger, whole form. Yet these drops of water will only appear on the surface when we first make the conscious effort to heat the air. For only they can melt together to elevate our relationship to the lessons of the past.