Heroes Not Zombies

What’s the difference between these two kinds of waves?

Yes, the sand waves aren’t moving, they just look like ripples. But if you see timelapse photography of desert sand dunes you can see great waves of sand moving just like the waves which crash onto the beach.

Except, even there, there is a huge difference.

What’s the difference?

It’s a difference between matter and energy. The sand waves are made of particles which stick, or move, together. Waves in water, however, might look like lines of water molecules all moving forwards together…..but they aren’t. Waves in water are energy waves. As the energy passes through the water it pushes the water molecule up and down again (in a kind of cyclical motion). In other words, the wave which moves forward is continuously made up from one group of molecules after another.

A bit mind boggling, huh? But you can see what happens if you see some seaweed (or a rubber duck) on the surface of the sea…..as the wave arrives, the duck rises up, as it passes onwards, the duck sinks down again, waiting for the next wave to arrive…..same thing is happening with the water molecules.

What interests me about this is that I think WE are like the waves in the water much more than we are like the waves in the sand. We emerge out of everything which is, as the energy or life force of the universe surges through us, lifting us up into the world, then we disappear again, back into everything which is.