There’s a difference between the Zen practitioner who …

There’s a difference between the Zen practitioner who has arrived at no-self and the person who has simply never looked.

Both might describe themselves as not particularly attached to a narrative about who they are. Neither feels defined by a coherent life story. From the outside, they look almost the same.

But one has moved through identity to get there. The other is still standing at the entrance.

The achievement of holding yourself lightly is not the same as never having picked yourself up. Lightness earned through work is freedom. Lightness by default is just another kind of trap — one with no visible walls.

You can’t dissolve a story you haven’t first seen.