A lemon is my savior.

A few years ago, I was at a retreat. The kind where you think you’ll float home afterwards, enlightened and serene.

Well… not quite.

At some point, a teacher held up a lemon and asked:

“What do you see?” …pointing at the lemon.

And suddenly, the air got thick.

No one dared say anything.

As if the wrong answer would send us straight back to ego kindergarten.

(And you know those “all-knowing” teachers, they can trigger your inner school child in no time.)

Some said: “It’s nothing.”

Another whispered: “It has no meaning.”

Until someone, with visible panic, blurted out: “A lemon?”

And yes… that was the right answer.

A lemon. Just that. What a releaf…we all laughed.

But then came the deeper question:

“Why is this lemon your savior?”

Oh boy.

Everyone looked away. I think some even studied the floor tiles with sudden spiritual interest…….that moment stayed with me……because I suddenly saw how afraid we are to be wrong, even in front of a lemon. How we want to impress with deep answers, when the truth is often just… simple:

“Because when you see it as one with yourself… it saves you.”

Why is the lemon our savior?

Because we use to believe it is separate from us. That it is out there, in a world apart from our mind. Because we are projecting meaning onto something meaningless. And when we let that go….when we just see the lemon as part of the dream, as a reflection of our own thoughts, it becomes our teacher.

It whispers : you’re making me up. I’m not here to be solved. I’m here to remind you… you’re dreaming.”

And in that moment, we are not separate anymore.

The lemon and we are ONE.

With love and light,

G.