The intention of being in service to both others and yourself begins with a deep understanding of your experiences and reactions, moment by moment. By cultivating this awareness, you can choose responses that align with your higher purpose, rather than falling into automatic, habitual patterns. To visualize this process more clearly, we can use the metaphor of an egg slicer to represent how experiences unfold and how we can find insight in the spaces between them.
Imagine an egg being placed in an egg slicer. As you press down on the slicer, it cleanly divides the egg into nice, even slices of white and yellow. Each slice represents a distinct moment in time, an experience, an emotion, or a reaction. In daily life, these slices of experience often seem to blur together, creating the illusion of a continuous, uninterrupted flow.
However, if you carefully separate the slices, perhaps by sliding them just slightly apart while still keeping them connected at their edges, you can see where they overlap. You notice the undersurface of one slice just beneath the edge of the next, revealing more than what was visible when the slices were perfectly aligned. This act of separation allows you to see the subtle layers of experience that are normally hidden beneath the surface.
Now, think of impermanence as the egg slicer of life—it’s constantly separating your experiences, emotions, and thoughts. Nothing lasts forever, and this impermanence is what creates the “slices” of your lived experience. Each moment is distinct, fleeting, and quickly replaced by the next. Yet, as in the egg slicer metaphor, the moments of your life, when viewed in sequence, seem to flow continuously. The spaces between these slices represent the gaps in awareness, the pauses between experiences where there is an opportunity to rest and reflect.
By focusing on these gaps, or spaces, you can pause before reacting to an experience or emotion. Instead of being swept up in the automatic flow of events, you can observe the moment from a place of calm. In this pause, where the edges of your experiences overlap but don’t fully touch, you gain insight into how your internal reactions arise. You can see the patterns more clearly and reflect on them before responding. These gaps allow for a deeper understanding of how impermanence shapes your life and how to navigate it with awareness.
So, just as the egg slices overlap slightly, revealing a glimpse of what’s beneath, you can visualize how each experience in life is distinct, yet connected. The gaps between them—created by impermanence—are where you find the space to reflect, to observe your emotions, and to act with mindfulness. By resting in these spaces, you avoid being pulled into habitual reactions, giving yourself the opportunity to respond with clarity, peace, and purpose. This awareness helps you align your actions with your intention of serving both yourself and others, allowing for more thoughtful, compassionate interactions in the world.
In this way, the egg slicer metaphor illustrates the continuous separation of moments and emotions by impermanence, and how embracing the gaps between experiences allows for deeper awareness, reflection, and ultimately, intentional action.
Spiritual Gravity 