Groundswell

A ground swell is a broad, deep undulation of the ocean caused by a distant storm.  Powerful waves travel for great distances long after the originating tempest has been exhausted. Ships and shores are pulled and pushed by the effects of unseen storms. 

The ground swell is a metaphor for the impermanence of the world. Forces both seen and unseen ensure that nothing in this world lasts forever. What feels solid and permanent is inevitable exposed to be ephemeral and temporary. 

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind."
- Ecclesiastes 

Standing on solid ground is an illusion.  We've always been floating on an ocean. 

Phosphenes

When you close your eyes, you continue to see. It could be the afterimage of a bright scene. It could be the red light that makes it through your eyelids. You never see 'nothing'. In total darkness, more mysterious things appear: strange lights, patterns and images.  These are Phosphenes - images that are created within your eyes - or  tricks played from within your brain.  Vision and perception do not cease in the absence of light.

When the light are bright, we trust our eyes. We believe what we see. Or do we see what we believe.  How much of what we observe really is from the outside world?  Do we see only what we expect to see?

Our vision is not passive. To see is to interpret; to project our ideas and memories; our fears and hopes onto whatever may be out there.