So back to our 80-year-old woman today who carries the memory of the 8-year-old. The 80-year-old has tools available to her today she did not have as an 8-year-old. The 8-year-old had neither the skills nor capacity of the 80-year-old. Think about the Ten Suchnesses. Think about those as an 8-year-old and those as an 80-year-old. There are big differences.

The 8-year-old existed but no longer exists. And yet the 8-year-old has influence today, even though she died a long time ago. She perhaps hasn’t been buried yet, but she is dead. In her place – in her reincarnation, if you will – a multitude of women have come and gone. The reincarnation of self, the cycle of birth and death, continues in each and every moment and continues without end and without interruption.

What is real, and what is not real? This is where the Middle Way comes in. It is all both real and unreal at the same time. Can the 80-year-old woman touch the 8-year-old girl? Yes, at times the 8-year-old girl is perhaps painfully present, and yet where is that 8-year-old girl? She is visible nowhere.

We all have similar experiences, things we have experienced, things we have done at different stages in our lives. We may have regrets. We may have pride. All of those things existed and then are no more. Life is a fluid experience no matter how much we may wish it to be solid and unchanging.