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Have you ever looked at a lightbulb and realised you’re looking at a mirror of your own existence?

On a physical level, we are all just a complex dance of combustion and vibration. We are assembled from atoms, fueled by energy, and sustained by a process that is far more rhythmic than it appears.

The Illusion of Continuity

When you turn on a lamp, the light seems solid and constant. In reality, it is a rapid-fire succession of energy being ignited and extinguished. It happens so fast that our eyes perceive a continuous glow.

We are no different. Our bodies are composed of trillions of cells, each undergoing its own "combustion" and vibration. We feel like a solid, permanent "self," but we are actually a high-speed flicker of biological activity. This "flicker" is what keeps us going—and just like a lightbulb, that energy comes with a cost. In a house, we call it the electric bill; in the body, we call it the consumption of life force.

The Mind of the Cell

During my Vipassana journey, this moved from a theory to a felt reality. I realised that the human body is essentially one giant "macro-cell" made of trillions of "micro-cells," each operating with its own intelligence.

In biology, we call this epigenetics. Cells aren't just robotic; they communicate with their environment and respond to it. For us, the "doorways" to this environment are our five senses. Our senses are the receivers, and our mind is the processor.

The Hue of the Ego

Think of Consciousness as pure, white electricity. When that energy passes through us, it takes on our individual identity.

However, when our cells are "tainted" by ego—what we call Sankhara (mental impressions or reactions)—the light changes. The ego acts like a colored filter. It adds a specific hue or tint to our energy, making each of us unique, but also keeping us separate. One person might glow with the red of anger, another with the grey of anxiety.

Dissolving into the Light

The goal of spiritual practice is not to build a better ego, but to clear the filter.

As we deepen our practice, we develop equanimity. We stop reacting, which stops the "tinting" of our cells. Slowly, the heavy hue of the Sankharas begins to fade. When the cells become perfectly equanimous, the individual light blends back into the universal consciousness.

This is the moment of dissolution. The ego vanishes, the "hue" disappears, and we are no longer just a flickering bulb—we are the light itself.

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."